Harry Potter and the Determinations of Fate
by Baronvonblack
Summary: Like ripples through water, a single event can change the entire course of history. For Harry, all it took was meeting a misty-eyed Ravenclaw a year earlier... Major AU later
1. Chapter 1

Harry walked aimlessly through the corridor, wand tucked beneath his robes.

_This sucks. _Why did he have to be entered in the bloody tournament?

The students that were walking past him were whispering to each other or giving nasty glares.

It wasn't exactly his fault that he was the Boy-Who-Lived, now was he? He would much rather not have someone try to kill him every year.

As he sat down on a nearby bench, he rubbed his temples and sighed. Harry had no idea where to start and worse, no idea what the First Task actually was.

"Hello," a voice said dreamily.

Harry frowned as he turned around to face perhaps the strangest student he had met here at Hogwarts.

A young third year student, from Ravenclaw with dirty blonde hair, radish earrings and a necklace of butterbeer corks?

"Err…hi," Harry replied awkwardly.

"There are a lot of Gizargens around your head," she stated simply as she flicked through a magazine called _The Quibbler._

"Gizargens?" Harry was, at this point, completely lost. "What are they?"

The girl was surprised. "You don't know what Gizargens are?"

Harry shook his head.

"Lots of them are floating around your head," she said. "Interesting little creatures, you know. Very strong and are quite powerful, but only when they need to be. Otherwise they float around, doing absolutely nothing. Quite lazy, really."

Harry looked at her in complete and utter shock. _Is she…_

"Unlike the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks," she continued. "Very hard-working and it pays off. Impossible to find as they're such cunning predators. Daddy said that once we raised enough money we might be able to go to Sweden to…"

But Harry wasn't listening. Instead, his gears in his brain were starting to turn – slowly, but they were.

The wizard stood up. "Thanks…um…"

The young witch was snapped out of her little reverie. "Oh? My name is Luna Lovegood." And with that, she began to hum her own tune, nose buried back in the strange magazine bearing the title NARGLES: THEIR POSSIBLE NESTING SPOTS as well as the title of the magazine.

That was certainly one of the strangest conversations Harry ever had, but he was certain of one thing.

He couldn't just sit on his ass and do nothing.

If he was in the Tournament, then so be it. He would make sure he was well-prepared.

--

"It's nearly past curfew, Mr. Potter," the librarian said with a stern face. "If you want to borrow some books, better do so now and leave."

"Let me just check the ones I want," Harry replied as he looked through the stack of books he had chosen.

There was a large variety that he had chosen, from ones on Battle Transfiguration, Dueling, powerful hexes and curses and some even on swordplay and fencing.

According to one of the books on swordsmanship, it stated that only a fool relied completely on his wand, and swords were an elegant and practical way of defending oneself if need be.

_And a sword saved my life, _Harry thought as he remembered second year.

As he checked the books out, carrying them back to the Gryffindor Common Room, he remembered also how lack of knowledge and spells had very nearly killed him on many occasions. Luck had been on his side those times, but it was too unreliable.

Ron glared at him as he entered the Common Room, as did the general populace of Gryffindors. Hermione stood up, but as she was about to approach him, Harry quickened his pace and went up to the Boys' dormitory.

Long through the night, Harry read through the books, noting down anything useful on a scrap piece of parchment.

--

The next day in the morning, as Harry was munching on a piece of toast, he had another book out on his lap.

To his annoyance, Hermione sat down beside him with a worried expression on her face. "You should really apologise to Ron, you know." She stated in that know-it-all voice.

Harry didn't even look up as he replied. "I didn't do anything. It's Ron's fault for being jealous and until he gets over it, I'm happy with the time being."

Hermione huffed, about to say something – then realised she had no retort for that.

Harry ate for a little while further, and then glanced at his schedule. "Defense Against the Dark Arts first. We'd better go now."

--

At the end of the lesson and the students disappeared, Harry walked up to Professor Moody. "Professor, can I ask you something?"

"Yes, Potter?" he said gruffly. "Is it something about the Tri-wizard tournament?"

"More or less," he replied. "I was wondering if you knew anyone who could teach me swords or fencing."

If Moody was surprised, he gave no show of it, only gazing at him levelly before replying. "That's an interesting question, Potter. Not a very good idea of course, to rely only on your wand. Yes, in fact, I do know one of the teachers is an adept swordsman."

"Who?" Harry asked, excitement bubbling inside him.

Moody gave a crooked smile. "Professor Snape is a master swordsman."

Harry was shocked. "Professor Snape?"

"Surprising, isn't it? Yes, Professor Snape knows how to handle his swords. I'm sure if you ask him nicely enough he'd be kind enough to teach you," Moody added in an almost sarcastic tone of voice.

Harry gave the mental equivalent of a snort. _Yeah right. But at the very least, it's worth a try._

Unfortunately – or thankfully, Harry didn't know which – they didn't have Potions today so Harry skipped along to his next two favourite classes, to ask the Professors something that could greatly help him.

--

"Ah yes, Mr. Potter!" The diminutive little Charms professor Flitwick chirped as he came up. "Do you have any questions about today's class?"  
"No sir," Harry replied very respectfully and earnestly. "The charm is quite straightforward. I was just wondering, sir… Hermione mentioned a while ago that you were a dueling champion."

Flitwick chuckled. "Yes that's quite correct, Mr. Potter. As strange as it may seem so with my…height, I was quite the dueler in my younger years. No more, of course, with my Hogwarts duties."

"So does that mean, if you were not a Hogwarts teacher then you would continue dueling?" Harry asked.

Flitwick was taken aback. "Of – of course not, Mr. Potter! The sport of dueling is dominated by the younger wizards, it seems, these days, but I would rather pass on my art to another eager student."

"Like me?" Harry said suddenly. "Sir, the reason I asked was because of my accidental entry into the Tri-Wizard tournament. I'm at least three years behind the other students and I…" he trailed off, not knowing exactly how else to put it.

Flitwick's eyes brightened at the prospect. "Of course, Mr. Potter! It would be a great honour to help such a fine student. Why, even your mother didn't ask for dueling lessons, from me or anyone!"

"Didn't she?" Harry asked.

"Oh, your mother was very talented at whatever she set her mind to. If she had ever entered the sport of dueling, a fine dueler she would be…" Flitwick sighed. "But your mother wouldn't very much enjoy that kind of career."

"Thank you, sir. When shall it be then?"

"Next week on Tuesday would be an adequate time for me, I believe. Seven here in my classroom we shall begin. But I think you should be heading to your next class now. Professor McGonagall is most unpleasant when she is angry."

--

And as expected, Professor McGonagall was not very pleased with his lateness but calmed down relatively when Harry explained that he was talking to Professor Flitwick.

As he had been doing for many classes, Harry did not sit either with Hermione or Ron; instead he decided to sit beside Neville.

Neville looked at him only briefly – he was smarter than his pudgy face let on as he knew exactly what was going on between the so-called Golden Trio.

Inside Harry was laughing sadly. His supposed 'best friends', they were? One was plagued by jealousy issues, the other by control and bossiness issues. Yes, a perfectly close friendship they had.

At the end of the otherwise normal Transfiguration class, Harry walked up to the stern professor.

"Mr. Potter," McGonagall said. "Is there something you wanted?"

"Yes, Professor," Harry replied, trying to make his face as earnest as possible. "As you know, I was entered into the Tri-Wizard tournament however I'm three years younger than the rest of the Champions. I read that Transfiguration however has many practical uses other than those shown here."

"You wish for me to teach you Battle Transfiguration." McGonagall caught on quickly, and it was definitely not a question.

Harry nodded.

"A fine decision, Mr. Potter." McGonagall's lips curled up in what appeared to be a smile, and there was a look of…pride on her face? "Few people ever think to use Transfiguration in a duel. I will not lie – it is difficult, however, you have the talent I believe to advance far in it. Monday of next week, come straight after dinner."

Harry thanked her politely, and then exited.

--

At the end of the day, when all his classes were finished, Harry was walking across the fourth floor, engrossed in another book about Defense.

Suddenly he came across a very…interesting spectacle.

"I'd like to have my wand back, please," a dreamy but familiar voice said.

Harry snapped out of the text on the different Shield charms as he looked up.

A Ravenclaw student in Harry's year…Michael Corner, he thought his name was, had two wands in his hands.

Luna was standing in front of him, trying to grab her wand back. Although her voice remained the same, Harry could see the frustration in her silvery eyes.

Michael had a sneer on his face as he held her wand out of reach. "What's the matter, _Loony_? Your Crumple-Horned Snorehacks can't help you now."

"They're Crumple-Horned Snorkacks – please give my wand back."

By now Harry could detect the note of pleading in her voice. Of course she would want it back – it was a wizard or witch's most important asset. Harry would feel naked without his.

"Not exactly like you deserve it," Michael continued. "After all…your mother blew herself up with one, didn't she?"

If possible, Luna's face paled several times and Harry could have sworn she started shaking.

_That's enough. _Harry decided to make himself known. "What's going on here?"

"Oh look what we have here," Michael's insults were unrelenting. "A loony bin and an attention-seeking prat. How are you going for the First Task, Potter? Wouldn't be too surprised if you get your head cut off!"

Harry's face became as hard as stone as he took out his wand. "Give Luna her wand back and apologise. One funny comment and I'll hex you."

Michael however didn't seem to listen. "Is that right, Potter? Well let me…"

"_Silencio," _Harry growled darkly. _"Incarcerous!"_

Although the last one was a fifth-year spell, Harry had managed it quite easily although in his anger didn't notice. "That was just a taste," he snapped at the now whimpering form of Michael. "Next time, I might do something more creative. DON'T bother Luna again." He took back the wand, handing it back to its rightful owner.

Luna smiled. "Thank you, but you didn't need to do that. It'll just become worse. I haven't found my pillow for a few months now."

Harry frowned. "Why are they taking your stuff?"

"I don't think they seem to like me very much," Luna replied thoughtfully. "They always call me Loony Lovegood."

Harry did not find the nickname at all amusing. "Have you gone to see Professor Flitwick?"

"Telling a teacher always makes it worse," Luna replied in a tone that made it seem they were discussing the weather. "So I try to get along as well as I can, really. They always return to me at the end of the year," she added casually.

Harry simply hated just sitting there and doing nothing about it, so he smiled. "Well it seems no one really likes me around here either. At the very least, if I hang out with you no one will try any stunts like Michael would pull."

"You would do that?" Luna asked in shock, in a slightly less dreamy tone.

Harry shrugged. "And I could use someone to help me with researching new spells. I have no idea what the First Task is, so could you be my research partner?"

The Ravenclaw aspect of Luna, it seemed, was not lost on her oddities as she brightened at the idea. "I'd love to."


	2. Chapter 2

**Review Responses:**

**Rufus: **I already have the Harry-uses-guns things in another story and in this one I wanted him to be a more heroic figure, so a sword seemed more appropriate. And besides, the wizarding world IS a few hundred years behind.

--

Harry rubbed his eyes, yawning as he read through _**Defense: 101 things your**__**opponent won't know**_. He had spent the entire night going through the chapters, and he was now at about chapter forty. The text was extremely thorough, covering tactics, spells and useful techniques most wizards wouldn't normally use.

_Hmm… using a blasting charm to increase your leaping height. Interesting. _Of course, Harry was rather annoyed that they wouldn't learn the blasting charm till next year.

_But the Fifth year textbook is in the library, _he realised.

The wizard had covered all the topics in his Fourth year textbooks, very briefly, and was planning to review them again. However, where was he ever going to practise them?

_The Chamber of Secrets_… Harry nearly shivered. Although that place brought back some dreadful memories, there was no choice. An unused classroom was out of the question, as anybody could just walk in. So for now, the student would have to settle for the Chamber.

As he yawned again, reaching across to decide to see if coffee was as good as all the adults made it out to be, a familiar snowy white owl flew in.

"Hedwig," Harry greeted happily. As he gave her his piece of toast, he took the piece of parchment.

_**Dear Harry**_

_**Tonight in the Gryffindor Common Room, eight thirty. Come alone.**_

_**Snuffles**_

Harry frowned deeply. Was Sirius going to come here? Extremely risky, but his godfather was one to take risks.

Scrunching up the paper, Harry burnt it with a minor fire charm and stuck the remains into his robe pocket. You could never be too careful, after all.

As he looked up to get another piece of toast after Hedwig had eaten his, he smiled at his owl. "You can go to the owlery now, Hedwig. I won't need you to write a reply letter."

His owl gave him an affectionate nip before taking off again.

Turning around, Harry noted the ever-present glare that seemed to be seated on Ron's face as well as the majority of the Gryffindor students.

And as he turned around further, the same glare was being sent to him from every direction of the Great Hall.

His gaze passed onto Luna as she sat quietly by herself, engrossed in another magazine about mysterious animals and conspiracies.

She really was unique. Although she seemed to be lost in her own world, Harry had an unshakeable feeling that she was a lot more focused than she let on.

He frowned as several sniggering Ravenclaw students began walking in her direction.

Not liking where this was going at all, he took a deep breath and stood up, walking across the Great Hall as he felt the majority of eyes on him.

"Hi Luna," he greeted.

Luna looked up from her magazine, and a brief flicker of happy emotions passed through her usually serene face. "Good morning, Harry. How are you today?"

Harry smiled. The pleasantness of her greeting soothed him. "I'm fine, Luna, just a little tired. Would you like to sit with me at the Gryffindor table?"

The hall went silent.

The sniggering Ravenclaw students stopped in their tracks.

Many of the teachers looked on with a look of astonishment, and some of the students were staring with mouths half-full of food.

Luna gave a dreamy smile, perfectly oblivious to what was happening all around her. Either that or she didn't care. "I'd love to, Harry."

As they moved back across to the Gryffindor table, the Hall fell back into its usual routines.

"Your friend on the other side of the table seems to find something about you funny," Luna noted as they sat down and Ron's glare only increased further. "Perhaps you have Zibbidizeks buzzing around you?"  
"I thought you said I had Gizargens around my head," Harry said with a laugh.

"Not anymore," Luna said in a dreamy voice. "But Zibbidizeks are much worse. They're much more stubborn than Gizargens, not that Gizargens were stubborn to begin with. When they have their mind set on something, they won't stop until they get it and they will eventually drill into your head. There aren't any known cures, unfortunately."

Harry frowned slightly. Was Luna really as strange as she seemed or did she just make fun of him?

--

After walking Luna to her next class, Harry arrived just perfectly in time for Potions class.

"Potter!" Snape hissed as he entered. "You are nearly a minute later. Five points from Gryffindor! Now take your seat."

Harry grumbled softly to himself as he did beside Neville again. Snape seemed particularly nasty today. Would it still be a good time to ask him?

"Today, we shall be making a potion known as the Draught of Deliverance," Snape said smoothly, as he paced between the desks. "It demands utmost care and attention, and those who do not give it such…" he turned to look deliberately at Harry before returning to his pacing "Will suffer direst consequences. This potion is to be completely individually." The Potions professor waved his wand over the blackboard and a set of instructions appeared. "Begin."

Before Harry began to gather the ingredients, he continued to sit in his chair, re-reading the instructions several times.

_According to a Beginner's Guide to Potions, you should read your instructions several times before beginning. _Since Snape had 'forgotten' to teach them basic potion practice in First Year, he had to retrace his steps and learn what he should have taught them.

Once he was certain the instructions were clear in his mind, it was then that he went to work.

--

This was potentially the most successful potions lesson Harry had EVER had. Although losing points for being a few seconds late was a bummer, when Snape looked at his potion he looked slightly surprised though quickly covered it up, muttering "Acceptable," before moving on.

Harry sighed in relief, bottling it up and writing his name on the tag with a quill. For Snape, who essentially hated him, labeling it an acceptable potion was high praise.

At the end of the class, as everybody left, Harry took in a deep breath, walking up to the Potions professor as he sat at his desk writing some notes down.

Snape looked up to regard him coolly. "Potter. Is there anything I can…do for you?" it seemed he made a great effort in forcing out the last words – for a moment Harry had thought he had gotten soft before the professor quickly added, "Ten points from Gryffindor for not tucking your shirt in."

Harry made no effort to do so, instead, sweeping his robes up as to cover up his shirt as he started to talk. "Sir, Professor Moody tells me that you're an expert swordsman."

Snape raised an eyebrow in surprise. "And what of it, Potter?" he sneered.

He took in another deep breath. "As you know, sir, I've been entered into the Tri-wizard tournament. I don't have any idea what the First Task is, but I think I'd have a lot better chance of surviving the tournament if I knew how to handle a sword, especially if I lose my wand."

With inky black eyes Snape stared at him for what seemed like an extremely long time. Harry had an odd prickling sensation in the back of his head.

"Remember, Potter," he drawled. "The art of blades is almost as delicate as the art of potion-making. Only a precise hand can master it. I doubt that someone as incompetent as you can master it…" Harry visibly stiffened at that statement "However, you are correct in saying that your chances of survival would increase, especially without a wand."

Harry waited for him to continue.

"This Saturday," Snape said finally. "Seven thirty sharp. Do NOT be late."

"Understood, sir," Harry replied as he turned to leave.

"Potter!" Snape snapped. "Quitting is not an option."

Harry's eyes hardened. "Yes, sir."

Outside the Dungeons, Harry was fuming. _As incompetent as me? I'll bloody well show him! I won't just LEARN how to handle a sword, I'll MASTER it!_

--

"Pass the book on advanced charms, Harry," Luna said pleasantly as they both sat in the library.

Harry passed it to her before resuming reading his large tome on _**Mastering the Offensive Arts**_. As of yet, he hadn't been able to practice anywhere as there was nowhere private enough at Hogwarts.

However, this was his third session with Luna in the library, and Harry had been gathering notes on the more useful spells.

Luna was exceptionally intelligent, especially just for a Third Year. Underneath that dreamy girl, there was a true Ravenclaw.

As Harry began to jot down directions for another spell, Luna turned around, looked down at it and casually said, "Oh, don't bother with that one Harry. It has no real use."

Harry frowned at her. "Luna…how do you know all this stuff?"

"My mum was a spell-maker," Luna said as she began leafing through the advanced charms book. "She taught me a lot, and there are quite a lot of her old notes still lying around at home."

Harry suddenly remembered Michael's insult -_"After all…your mother blew herself up with one, didn't she?"_ – But didn't think it was a good idea to ask her about that.

"Really," Luna said as she tossed the advanced charms book aside. "You'd think that for being one of the biggest magical libraries in England they'd offer some possible ways of capturing a Crumple-Horned Snorkack."

"Wouldn't they be under 'Magical Creatures'?" Harry asked, without looking up. What Luna believed was her own business – and besides, a few years ago Harry didn't believe that magic existed. Why should he deny the existence of something else? Not that he believed there WAS a Crumple-Horned Snorkack, but he was open to the idea.

"I've already looked under there," Luna sighed. "Nothing really. I wonder if the Restricted Section has any useful books?"

Harry had seen very many interesting books in the Restricted Section during his venture there in the First and Second years, but had never dwelt on it. Now, however, he was regretting he didn't take the opportunity.

_Wait…maybe I can ask Professor Moody? Under the excuse of 'Knowing the Enemy' and all._

He shrugged inwardly. He had already asked Professor Moody yesterday for extra Defense lessons and the wizard had agreed – Sunday, seven thirty.

This meant that Harry would be very, very busy.

He liked being busy – it helped him take his mind off his traitorous friends and House.

Ron still wouldn't stop glaring at him, and Hermione was somehow convinced it was his fault that they weren't talking, and annoying him with her badgering.

Was their relationship so superficial? At the first sign of difficulty, they dropped everything and ran?

No, it was illogical to think that. They, after all, had stuck by him in the First, Second and Third years. No, it had to be something other than that.

Suddenly his mind, now much sharper from all the extra reading he was doing, clicked.

It was just like in Second year, really. Hermione and Ron didn't want to associate with someone who the rest of the school hated. That year they kept their distance until they were absolutely sure it wasn't him.

It was a question of conformity and school hierarchy. And right now, Harry was at the bottom of that hierarchy.

He had managed to avoid the Slytherins and the rest of the school most of the time between classes via secret passages and being in the library most of the time, but it was hard going about your day with the numerous evil glares you received.

But somehow he managed, and with Luna accompanying him most of the time, they made a pretty close pair.

After all, the outcasts stuck together, didn't they?

He glanced down at his watch. "Sorry, Luna, we've got to cut it short today. I've got to get back to my House Common Room and do something."

Luna looked slightly disappointed. "Alright Harry, but you'd better have a good reason."

"I do," Harry replied as he copied down the last of the spells he was looking for, sweeping them into his bag as he got up. "Good night, Luna."

She smiled a little sadly. "Good night, Harry."

--

At eight thirty, Harry walked into the Common Room. Surprisingly enough, there wasn't anybody around.

He sat down, looking around with a frown. Where was Sirius?

"Harry!" a familiar voice said.

Harry stood up, spinning around. "Sirius?" he asked with a frown. "Where are you?"

"Come to the fireplace, Harry!"

As Harry looked into the fireplace, he found himself deeply shocked – there, within the flames, was Sirius's head.

He crouched by the fireplace, but quickly said, "Hold on." With a wave and a muttered incantation, he spun a temporary silencing charm around him and the fireplace. "So we get our privacy."  
"Even your dad wasn't that cautious," Sirius mused. "So you've been entered into the Tri-wizard tournament?"

Harry nodded grimly. "Even worse, everybody thinks I did it on purpose. Ron's jealous and Hermione thinks it's my fault we're not talking."

"Just give them some time, they'll come around," Sirius encouraged. "But Harry, it's obvious someone wants you dead this year. In the Tri-wizard tournament, people die all the time – your death would just be labeled an unfortunate accident."

Harry nodded. "Voldemort's up to something, I know that," he said. "My scar's started to sting again."

"Watch yourself, Harry," Sirius warned. "Karkaroff – the Headmaster of Durmstrang – used to be a Death Eater. Watch out for him."

"Sirius, I was wondering," Harry began. "I need a place to practise spells without being disturbed. Do you know somewhere like this?"

"Hmmm… there are a lot of secret passages around Hogwarts. I'm not too sure – your best bet would be to ask one of the House elves, or Dumbledore if you're really desperate."

Harry nodded. "Alright then, that's all I needed."

Sirius's head nodded. "Goodbye Harry, and be careful!" With that his head disappeared into the flames.

As soon as Harry got up, Ron happened to walk into the Common Room.

Harry ignored his glare as he went up to bed – today had been a very long day, after all.

--

On Saturday, after a long week, Harry headed down to the Dungeons to meet Snape for his sword lessons.

As he entered, Snape was there waiting for him. "Follow me, Potter." He sneered.

Snape led him into an antechamber, just across from the Potions class. He tapped on it with his wand and the door clicked open.

Harry stared in wonderment at the large training grounds. It was large and extremely simple – very flat with some padding on the ground. Several sets of swords and weapons were attached to a rack to the side.

The Potions professor took two gleaming swords out, handing one to Harry. "These swords have blunted edges," he explained. "So they will not kill you…the worst they can do is bruise you."

Harry still inwardly gulped as he raised his sword. That was Snape's dream, wasn't it? To harm him in anyway possible.  
Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to ask him…

Without warning, the Potions professor snapped off a sharp attack, nearly catching Harry by surprise.

Quickly reacting, Harry raised his sword, barely deflecting the blow and causing him to stagger.

"You're holding your weapon too stiffly, Potter," the teacher sneered. "Loosen your grip or else your wrists will snap."

Harry did so as Snape came at him again.

After well over an hour of non-stop fighting, and Snape correcting him several times over, Harry left the Dungeons very bruised and battered.

However, Harry was left with a strange sense of satisfaction – for once, Snape's brutal method of teaching was working. He had the feeling of improvement, and was determined to learn further into this art.

--

The next day, in a rare moment, Hermione was able to catch up with him as they travelled between classes. "Harry, we need to talk," she said sternly.

Harry almost growled at her – almost. "What is it…Granger?"

Her eyes widened at the harsh use of her surname. "Harry, please, listen to me! It's not Ron's fault he's like this…"  
"Then whose is it?" Harry replied coldly. "So you're saying he was TAUGHT to be jealous? Is that what you're saying? That his mother taught him poorly?"

Hermione reeled back like she was slapped in the face. "N-No! I…I'm not saying that!"

"Then what are you saying?" Harry rounded on her bitterly. "Listen. To. Me. You are NOT Miss Perfect. You are, in fact, far from it, and the sooner you realise that the sooner you stop annoying me. People would listen to you more if you stopped nagging, and also…" he paused to emphasise his point. "You distanced yourself when you learnt I could speak Parseltongue, even though you KNEW I was no dark wizard. This is just the same."

Hermione was just staring at him in shock, mouth open.

"It's clear to me," Harry continued, "That we were never really friends at all. You may deny it all you like, but logic, the logic which you so love and adore, clearly states that you were never friends with me for who I was – instead, you wanted to be friends with the bloody Boy-Who-Lived." And with that, he stormed off.

--

"You're very annoyed," Luna stated as Harry met up with her in the library.

"Hermione bloody tried to talk to me today," Harry grumbled. "Annoyed the hell out of me, and ruined my day."

Luna started to read her book. "I heard her talking to Ron. Trying to calm him down, and talk to you, but he wouldn't listen."

"Figures," Harry replied, picking up a book on hexes and jinxes and flicking through it, not really reading.

"That was what was eventually going to happen, but Hermione didn't notice. She just threatened that she would tell Professor Dumbledore."

Harry dropped his book abruptly. "What?"

"Oh yes," Luna said casually. "Sounded very serious about it, in fact. You'd be surprised at how open people are around people they think are insane."

_So even Hermione dislikes her. _"Never mind – she can tell Dumbledore, but all he would do is give her some silly advice. He can't do anything about it, especially with his duties preparing for the Tri-wizard tournament."

"Oh yes," Luna added. "About the tournament – Ronald was determined not to tell you what the First Task was, even if Rubeus told him to tell you."

"WHAT?" Harry stood up, but subdued his temper when the librarian gave them a warning glance. "He knows the First Task?"

"I know it also," Luna said with an uncharacteristic smirk. "Dragons."

Harry visibly paled. "D-Dragons?"

"Dragons." Luna repeated. "One for each of you."

Harry took in a deep breath, trying to calm down quickly. "Luna…would you please tell me everything you know about dragons?"

"Oh, there are very many different types – there are going to be four different species of dragon also used for the Tri-wizard tournament. They're normally very protective of their nests, resistant and immune to most common spells and breathe fire. And of course, they are extremely powerful creatures, very moody, adept flyers…"  
"I think that's all I need to know, Luna," Harry said with a groan as he picked up another book on spells.

Suddenly his mind clicked.

"Wait a moment…" Harry flicked through the notebook he now always carried, coming to a specific page. "I knew I had put something on this! It's a powerful freezing charm. I think if I practise it enough, I'll be able to cut off the dragon's fire."

"Do you really think that might work?" Luna asked innocently. "Not even the strongest wizards are able to freeze a dragon's fire – they're extremely powerful."

"Okay, there goes that plan," Harry sounded defeated. "Oh wait – I suppose the Summoning charm might come in useful. I could use it to summon my Firebolt!"

"But that would cost you time," Luna reminded gently. "Time that could cost you your life."

"That'll be a backup plan, then," Harry said. "I still need to practise my spells anyway. Okay then…"

--

"Potter," Moody said as he came in for his first lesson. "What is it that you want me to teach you? You're excelling in Defense."  
Harry took in a deep breath. "Sir…I would like to learn some of the stronger curses. Since all the champions are a few years above me, I need to catch up with them and possibly surprise them."

Moody nodded. "Very well, then. Try this – _Reducto!_"

--

A/N: I really am quite lazy so I'll skip out chunks of the training scenes from time to time.


	3. Chapter 3

Determined to excel in all that he did, Harry worked furiously, having intense practise sessions after learning what he needed to learn from Flitwick, McGonagall, Moody or Snape.

Although Professor Flitwick was primarily teaching him wizard dueling, if there was additional time Harry would also learn nifty little charms.

One of the more useful ones he learnt was a telekinetic charm perfected by Flitwick himself – all the user had to do was say _"Conicio Obviam," _aim his wand at the object and direct it to where it wanted it to go. Extremely fast and sudden, Harry particularly enjoyed throwing rocks, pans and other random objects at targets he set up for himself.

Dueling was more intensive than Harry had originally thought – there were precise ways in which a wizard was to dodge to evade different types of spells, and Harry spent a full hour once trying to dodge in the specified ways while Flitwick sent different spells at him. There were also unique stances for wizards who favored different spells and strategies, created by famous champions to optimize posture, position and hand movement.

Since Harry did not prefer any strategy, instead to freeform and improvise on the spot, he learnt the Tupelo stance, made famous by dueling champion Jack Tupelo. Very well-balanced, the wand hand was not pointed in any specific direction, only slightly downwards to make it easy to flick between going on the defensive and going on the offensive. His feet were spread apart, one slightly after the other with legs bent slightly, ready to move if need be.

Professor Moody's lessons were a tad…interesting. Although it was obvious Moody was a powerful wizard, once they had gone over the more important spells of the later years, he had began to teach him spells that were…borderline dark, to say the least.

One of them – a cutting curse called _Sectumsempra;_ Moody warned was not to be used except in the direst circumstances.

Another one was a dark stunning curse called _Evinco._ When Harry used it on a test dummy that Moody conjured, the damn thing was propelled backwards and smashed to bits. Although the Defense professor explained that all a person would suffer would be some broken bones and wouldn't wake up, even with _Enervate, _Harry still felt a little unsure in using it, or any of the spells Moody now taught him. He quickly learnt the counter to it, _Ocnive, _but felt that some of the spells had a certain…addiction to them. Like once he used them, he wouldn't be able to stop.

Professor McGonagall's lessons took up the most of his energy and focus – conjuring up walls of ice, concrete, stone or even wood and animating and making stone golems out of certain material was more difficult than Harry believed it to be. By the end of the first week, all he could conjure up was a wooden wall that was easily shattered apart, but eventually he got the hang of it. The most he could animate were human-sized warriors, though, that crumbled easily and took a lot out of him.

Thankfully also McGonagall took an air of professionalism in all their private lessons – Harry could see she was concerned about his friendship with Ron and Hermione but never once ever asked any of them about it.

However, McGonagall's demanding lessons paled in comparison to lessons with Snape.

This was the one Harry needed to work hardest on – if he fell behind, even a little, Harry would leave with a mass of bruises, or in a worst-case scenario would have to go to the Hospital Wing, where Snape would simply say it was "A beginner's mistake in the remedial potions lesson."

Harry, however, knew that Snape was surprised by the level of progress that he was showing although he never mentioned it. Very soon, Harry was able to fight back for nearly half an hour without a scratch before falling to a slight falter in defense.

As expected, Snape never actually taught him anything – all they did was spar. He was polite enough, though, even for someone who hated him, to give him a large tome on swords. It contained everything – different types, legendary swords, stances, techniques, etc, etc.

But I hear you asking the question, "Where did Harry find such a perfect place to practise all this?" Well the answer is simple, and is due to a completely accidental meeting…

--

Harry gave a grin as he glanced down at his parchment for the enhanced hearing charm. This would certainly come in handy, especially combined with his Invisibility Cloak!

In the Gryffindor Boys Dormitory, Harry tapped his right ear, and said the incantation. He repeated this for his left ear.

His eyes widened as he could literally hear EVERYTHING. The chatter going on downstairs that was just meaningless chatter, became louder and focused, separated into multiple different conversations, definitive thuds as students moved and a slight shuffling behind him.

Harry frowned as he heard this – there wasn't anybody in the Boys Dormitory aside from him – so…

He whirled around, wand in hand.

"Oh, Dobby apologises sir! I is cleaning beds when…" the house elves eyes widened when he saw who he was talking to. "Ah! Harry Potter sir!"

"Dobby?" Harry said with a frown, canceling the charms on his ears.

"Harry Potter remembers Dobby's name," Dobby gushed, "And Dobby remembers Harry Potter. Harry Potter set Dobby free!"

"So you're working here now?" Harry asked.

"Yes Harry Potter sir," Dobby nodded enthusiastically. "Headmaster pays house elves wages every month for taking care of Hogwarts!" then he added, "Harry Potter set Dobby free! Dobby is in your debt!"  
Harry smiled. House elves knew the castle better than anyone, then. "Well, there is something you can do for me, Dobby."

"What is it, sir?" Dobby asked. "Dobby is happy to serve the great wizard Harry Potter!"

"I need to find a place to practise my magic without anybody knowing," Harry replied.

Dobby thought for a moment. "Yes, sir, there is a place! House elves call it the Come-and-Go room, sir!"

Harry smiled as he crouched down to Dobby's height. "Can you show me?"

--

It was there that Harry discovered the wondrous Room of Requirement – and from then on, Harry spent almost every waking moment in there. The library paled in comparison to what the Room had to offer.

Once he had introduced Luna also to it, as well as his own private training, Harry and Luna enjoyed little dueling sessions from time to time.

"_Expelliarmus," _Harry said with a grin as the spell hit Luna, causing her wand to go flying in the air. He caught it, walking up and handing it back to her.

"It's not really my fault that the Googliwacks are with you," she said with a frown as she got it back. "Otherwise it would be much fairer."

"I defeated Voldemort when I was one – was that fair?" Harry asked with a smirk. "The greatest Dark Lord the world has ever known defeated by a one year old kid?"  
"Fate's like that sometimes," Luna said as she took her position. _"Stupefy!"_

Harry leaned to the side, dodging it before flicking his wand. _"Constrictum!"_

Long chains of pale energy lanced out from his wand, clearly intent on trapping and restraining the Third Year student.

"_Protego," _she said, staggering slightly backwards as the force of the chains impacted into her shield. Dissipating it, she raised her wand and shouted, _"Percutio Incidere!"_

A short burst of electricity fired from her wand.

And that was the reason why Harry loved Luna so much – she had a head full of spells he hadn't even heard of, some that he doubted even the teachers knew. Often she would throw these in a duel, and Harry would have to respond immediately.

That and she was also quite a powerful witch.

Harry gave a grunt as he flicked his wand, raising up a wall of thick wood in time as the electricity dissipated on its surface.

One of the biggest problems of Battle Transfiguration was that it was mostly done wordlessly – otherwise, the long incantations would just cost valuable time.

It was here that McGonagall began to teach Harry Occlumency to help organize his mind and make wordless magic easier. Not a master occlumens herself, nevertheless McGonagall was fair and a very good teacher. Harry found wordless magic much easier, although it would take until the end of the year until he could do it without a thought.

Harry destroyed his wall with a blasting charm, leaping through as he snapped, _"Incendio! Stupefy! Expelliarmus!"_

Luna rolled out of the way to avoid the flames, sidestepped quickly the stunner but was unable to put up a shield in time to stop the disarming charm, and watched in annoyance as her wand fell into the hand of a grinning Harry.

--

"Tomorrow begins the First Task of the Tri-wizard tournament!" Dumbledore announced from the staff table. "All Champions are to report straight after breakfast to the tent by the Forbidden Forest where they will learn what their Task is!"

_It's not like nobody knows, _Harry thought as he looked at the smug faces of the other three Champions. He had told Cedric a few days ago – there was no point in the other Hogwarts champion being disadvantaged, now, was there?

"Now we'll see if our plan works," Harry said to Luna beside him.

As per usual, the rest of the table sat a fair distance away from them, but recently instead of shooting him evil glares, they just ignored him now.

Except for Malfoy, who decided to make his presence known, flanked as usual by his two dunderheads.

"Feeling lucky, Potter?" Malfoy sneered. "Even your little girlfriend's imaginary animals won't be able to help you – you're going to die!"

"In your dreams, Malfoy," Harry said with boredom. "Now why don't you run back to your little Slytherin table like you belong?"

Malfoy fumed as he went back. Harry never bothered to dignify him with his anger these days – only a sentence was enough for a ferret like him, really.

Sitting across from him, Hermione looked at Harry worriedly. _Harry still doesn't know what the First Task is and he's acting so casual?_

Internally, Hermione debated whether or not to tell Harry. Finally she decided not to – _It serves him right, really, for neglecting his true friends. _She huffed as she glared at Luna. _Why would he be around someone so…loony? This Task will wake him up._

--

Harry did not sleep perfectly soundly that night – his dreams were plagued by a giant dragon chasing him down then finally burning him alive.

He gave a yawn as he bit down on a strip of bacon, mentally going through his plan in his head.

As Luna sat beside him, she only took one look at him and profoundly stated, "You had nightmares about the dragon."

Harry nodded, stifling another yawn. "I'm still not sure the plan is perfect…what if I screw up the spell?"

"You made five backup plans," Luna pointed out dryly.

"Ah – right." Harry finished eating his toast. "Well I'd better get going."

"I'll accompany you," Luna stated. "Just to make sure the nargles don't follow you."

Harry smiled. "Thanks Luna." However weird that statement was, it showed how much Luna cared.

Even as they went, Harry was still worrying. He was babbling on in a hundred different ways about how it could go wrong, but as they got to the tent, Luna abruptly interrupted him by engulfing him in a hug.

"Harry, you're one of the strongest and most intelligent wizards I know," Luna said in an uncharacteristically emotional voice. "Kind, brave, loyal… you won't get burnt alive, or get smashed to bits by the tail, or get thrown out of the stadium, or…" realizing that she was trailing a bit, she then quickly added, "None of those things will happen – in fact, you be in the lead!"

A sudden camera flash interrupted them as Harry whipped around, wand in hand.

"Aw, young love," Rita Skeeter crooned, taking several more pictures. "Now Harry, we never did get to finish that interview…"

Groaning, Harry let himself and Luna into the tent.

Luna smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry about that, Harry. If she decides to print an article with that picture, I'll owl my dad to…"

"Don't worry about it, Luna," Harry replied. "If she does print some 'secret girlfriend' article, I'd be proud to know that it's you."

Luna blushed as he said that, but Harry mentally whacked himself in the head. _Why the hell did you say that? _"Good luck Harry…"

As Luna left, Harry turned round, waiting for the rest of the champions to arrive.

Soon, the other pale-faced champions arrived, as did Ludos Bagman, Dumbledore, Madame Maxime and Karkaroff.

Ludos was holding a strange purple bag which seemed to have something moving in it. "Everyone will reach in, one at a time, to grab the different…type…of what you're going to face."

With a slightly shaking hand, Fleur pulled out the first miniature dragon. Then Krum, then, Cedric, and eventually Harry.

He groaned at the miniature spiked dragon. _Somehow, I'm not surprised._

--

Fleur kicked it off, and she looked positively green as she walked outside.

Anxiously the other Three champions waited, listening as there were screams and yells outside.

Eventually Fleur came back in, looking rather relieved for it to be over. Krum stood up, but unlike Fleur who was scared out of his mind he merely huffed, walking out proudly.

After a while, Cedric got up, giving Harry a quiet "Good luck" before leaving.

Harry waited patiently, going over his plan in his mind as he inwardly gulped as he saw the wounds the other two Champions had suffered.

A while later, Cedric came back, looking a little worse for wear but otherwise doing okay.

Harry sighed as he stood up, and Ludos Bagman's magnified voice introduced him. "And our Fourth Champion, of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, HARRY POTTER!"

The crowd went wild at this announcement – Harry scowled in disgust at how easily they changed sides.

Taking in his surroundings, Harry's eyes widened as he looked at the Hungarian Horntail.

Forget anything he saw in pictures – it was HUGE.

The dragon roared as it saw him, and as it took in a deep breath, that was when Harry moved.

He closed his eyes just as he yelled out the incantation: _"Mico!"_

A massive, searing flash and a deafening screech erupted from his wand. The dragon gave a roar of anger as it breathed fire, but Harry was already gone from that spot and so the fire hit thin air.

Now most average wizards know that a dragon's senses are heightened tenfold. It is for this reason alone, that the dragon was completely blinded and deafened by the spell that Harry had used.

Not knowing how long the spell's effect would last, Harry ran quickly towards his target – the nest.

He grabbed the golden egg in triumph, raising it above his head as the crowd gave a roar of approval.

The judges, Dumbledore, Maxime, Karkaroff and Crouch Senior just looked at him in shock with their mouths wide open.

He grinned at them – not only did he complete the First Task in the fastest time, he made it look easy as well.

The dragon, however was furious as it regained its senses – even as Dragon Trainers restrained it, it managed to send off a burst of powerful scorching fire.

Even as Dumbledore got up, wand half out, he didn't need to use it as Harry already raised his own. _"Glacius!"  
_The powerful freezing spell blazed out from Harry's wand tip in a stream of ice, colliding directly with the dragon's volatile flames.

The two opposing forces clashed for well over several seconds, before Harry's jet of ice began to push the fire back.

Harry's muscles were screaming at him to stop, but he keep forcing the magic to flow through his wand. His hands were freezing cold as the stream of ice spread, and his wand had developed a thin layer of frost.

He closed his eyes for an almost eternal amount of time – when he opened them next, he looked up in complete and utter shock, nearly dropping his icy wand.

There, standing before him, was the Hungarian Horntail – however, it was completely FROZEN in solid ice.

The crowd couldn't get enough as their cheer rose to fever-pitch. "POTTER!" One student stood up, shouting his name – then another, then another, then another, until soon EVERYONE in the Tri-Wizard stadium had stood up, chanting over and over again, "POTTER! POTTER! POTTER!"

"And after that stunning display of magic, here come the judges with their points!" Bagman announced after the crowd had calmed down.

Dumbledore raised his wand, sending out a ribbon with a massive '10' on it.

The crowd roared out in approval again for a full minute before Maxime raised her wand, sending out a huge '10'.

Karkaroff sneered, but almost reluctantly sent out a '7'.

The crowd gave yet another roar of approval – it seemed that Karkaroff was a difficult judge to please.

And finally, an impressed-looking Crouch sent out yet another perfect '10'.

"And would you look at that!" Bagman yelled. "Harry Potter has got a nearly perfect score! He is in the lead, followed by fellow Hogwarts champion Cedric Diggory!"

Harry grinned, the adrenaline surge of the event racing through him as he raised his golden egg in victory, listening to them chanting relentlessly, "POTTER! POTTER! POTTER!"

--

"You're fine, Mr. Potter, apart from being a little tired," Madam Pomfrey said as Harry stood up from the bed. "Are you sure you don't want to stay here a little longer?"

"I'm sure, Madam Pomfrey," Harry replied with certainty as he saw Luna waited for him by the entrance. "I'll go to bed earlier tonight."

"Very well then," the witch said with a sigh. "Then off with you! But remember to get lots of rest!"

After bidding the school nurse farewell, Harry met with a smiling Luna.

"You did very well," Luna said pleasantly as they left together.

"Thanks," Harry replied with a smile, "But I couldn't have done it without you. You were the one that suggested the freezing charm as an extra precaution. So in a way, you saved my life."

Luna blushed slightly, and her blush was easy to see on her delicate skin. "Thank you, Harry, but it takes a lot of magical power to completely freeze a full adult dragon. Even Professor Dumbledore looked shocked."

"I think we should go to the Room of Requirement now," Harry said, changing the subject.

Luna frowned. "But Madam Pomfrey said…"

"I'll be fine," Harry dismissed. But seeing his friend's concerned look he sighed, and said, "We'll get some beds in the Room. But I want to see what 'puzzle' this egg contains." He said, indicating the egg in his hand. "Shall we go by…?"

He stopped in his tracks.

Hermione and Ron stood in the way – both of them looking very guilty.

Before he could say anything, Ron stepped forward. "Mate, I'm really sorry for the total way I acted," he confessed, "I thought you were being an attention-seeking prat, but I knew you weren't that kind of person."

"And for me as well, Harry," Hermione said, also stepping forward. "I'm really, really sorry! I should have told you what the First Task was…yet, I didn't because I thought it would serve you right. But when that dragon attacked you, I… I was so scared for your safety. Please, could you forgive Ron and me?"

Harry's voice tightened briefly. He had expected a meeting like this for a while, but it was harder than he thought it would be. "Guys," he began slowly. "I'm really thankful for the stuff we did in First, Second and Third years. I'm really thankful that in most of the incidents, you stuck by me, and helped me even though sometimes you didn't agree with what we were doing." He looked directly at Hermione, before turning back to look at both of them. "But times have changed. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop being your friend, but…" he swallowed. Why was this so hard? "You abandoned me for the most part of this year, simply because of something like THIS. I can understand you being annoyed or mistrustful for a day or so, but…you abandoned me!" he repeated strongly. "You said it yourself, Ron – you know I'm not like that but still you avoided me like the plague! And you, Hermione!" Harry rounded on the bushy-haired girl quite bitterly. "Stop acting like a bloody councilor! You should have stuck by me, but you didn't! Instead, you were somehow convinced it was my fault! Someone would bloody think you have a crush on Ron!"

At this both Hermione and Ron were shocked, but Harry continued. "It seems then that you never loved me, Harry Potter. In fact, I don't think you even really know me. You just want the Boy-Who-Bloody-Lived! You want Gryffindor's 'Golden Celebrity', as Professor Snape puts it!" Harry was yelling now. "I should count myself lucky we're not friends anymore! For a long time, I've had to put up with you two bickering on and on about the stupidest of things! It was only this year that I actually got to take a break and concentrate! You both would have driven me crazy later on! So I'm very sorry, but I must go. And you're not to ever follow me, for the rest of this year – and my bloody life."  
With that, him and Luna began to start to walk past them.

Ron sneered after them. "So you're bloody abandoning us for a loony?"

Harry froze.

"It's alright, Harry," Luna said quietly. "I don't need…"

"It doesn't matter!" Ron spat. "If you want to hang out with a mental kid like her, then we don't need you! We're better than you, in fact! Go ahead! Hang out with the girl no one likes! Hang out with the girl who was crying half the time she was here in First year, and nobody paid attention!"

Hermione was urging at him to stop, but he still continued. "The only use for a…bitch like her," he snarled, "Is…nothing! Her mother went and blew herself up, so it was obvious she would be…"

"_Evinco," _Harry hissed. The dark stunner flew across the hallway, hitting Ron in the stomach and throwing him several metres into a wall with a sickening thud.

Hermione ran to Ron with tears in her eyes as she raised her wand. _"Enervate." _

It didn't work.

She jabbed her wand at the unconscious Ron again. _"Enervate!"_

"It won't work, Granger," Harry said coldly. "He'll be out cold for as long as I want him to."  
"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Hermione screamed in anger. "Why did you hurt him? He was only trying to apologise?"

"If that was an apology, I'd like to see your definition of a compliment," Harry snapped as he raised his wand almost lazily. _Levicorpus, _he thought as Hermione hung suspended upside down.

"What are you doing?" Hermione screeched. "Put me down!"

"_Silencio," _Harry added. _"Incarcerous, Ocnive, Silencio."_

Ron was now awake, but with no voice and bound in thick ropes.

"Let me get this straight," he said in a commanding voice, green eyes shining dangerously. "Report this to any teacher, ANY, and I will know. I will hunt you down and hex you like you have never been hexed before. Deal?" Without waiting for an answer, he walked off, Luna beside him.

--

As they went into the Room of Requirement, Harry sighed as a large bed suddenly appeared, and he sat down on it. "Now that that's over with…" he trailed off as Luna sat down beside him, tears in her large silvery eyes. "Luna?"

Luna was deathly quiet. She looked up to the ceiling, then whispered, "My mother was a beautiful woman. She was so smart, and kind, and caring, and taught me so many things. Every night she'd stay awake, telling me stories of the exploits of Merlin, or the Four Founders until I went to sleep." She sighed. "When I was younger, and afraid that the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks would steal me away and raise me in a forest, mother would always come in, cast a defensive ward around me and hold me until I could fall asleep."

Harry was at full attention. "What happened?" he whispered fearfully.

"She was a spell-maker," Luna said softly. "She made lots of spells, some that she sold for money, but the best ones she saved for our family, keeping them in her notebooks for when I was a little older. But one day, while I was watching her…as she was perfecting a new spell, she…she…" Finally Luna choked and broke down, crying.

Harry immediately cradled her gently, her head in his shoulder as flowing tears wet his robes.

They were in this position for an indeterminable amount of time before Luna raised her head. "My father was devastated. I was devastated. But I had to be strong…if not for myself, for him. I know that one day, I'll see her again, but it's still so hard…"

"I understand, Luna," Harry whispered gently in reply. "I understand."


	4. Chapter 4

"Did you get it, Harry?" Luna asked excitedly as the dark-haired wizard came in.

Harry grinned as he produced the piece of parchment, proclaiming Professor Moody's permission for access to the Restricted Section. "Just got it last night when we finished. He did it with no questions asked."

Moody decidedly was an odd fellow, Harry knew as such. The way he frequently drank from that flask of his and his teaching of borderline dark spells was a clear example of that.

However, Moody was a skilled teacher – extremely skilled, and knowledgeable in much of the dark arts.

If Harry didn't know better, he'd say that Moody was once a Death Eater himself.

Walking down to the Library, Harry only had to produce the parchment briefly for the librarian to allow them access to the Restricted Section.

Luna's eyes widened at the huge range. The Ravenclaw inside her was excited, more excited than it ever had been before. Some of the books here…she wanted to read some that she didn't even KNOW she wanted to read!

Harry was just as ecstatic about gaining access to the books in the Restricted Section. Sure in the Room of Requirement they could get all that they needed, but it was within the boundaries of the Room. And plus some of the stuff here he would never have thought would be useful!

_Ancient Runes? _Harry thought as he passed his hand over a dusty tome. _Well I suppose it wouldn't hurt to know a little…_

As he picked up the book he glanced aside to Luna was deeply absorbed in a book called _**Cryptozoology: What every hunter should know.**_

Smiling amusedly to himself, Harry frowned as he located a thin paperback book lodged solely between two thick dark arts tomes.

Reaching out, he took it out, looking at the faded and worn covers, and a title was just barely visible.

_**The True Nature of Magic.**_

Harry frowned as he opened up the first page then his eyes widened.

'_This book has been banned by the British Ministry of Magic. Anyone found in possession of this item will have it immediately removed and be liable for a fine of up to 100 Galleons and a month's imprisonment in Azkaban.'_

He passed it over to Luna, who was just as surprised. "That's a very harsh punishment for just having a book in your library," she observed. "What harm could come from reading a book?"

Harry glanced around the Restricted Section, looking at all of the definite dark arts books before deciding not to mention them. "Well apparently this one is harmful…so…" he trailed off before grinning. "Let's read it!"

Luna laughed softly also as the two of them found a table and opened it up.

'_Dearest reader, this book that you now hold in your hands is a secret that many would die to keep secret. Indeed, many of my colleagues who researched into the energy source which we wizards call 'magic', and came up with similar conclusions have fallen to particularly gruesome fates. Recent investigations have shown that the Ministry of Magic is involved in these murders._

_But I am not here for conspiracies or stories, and neither are you. Brace yourselves as you turn the next page, for your entire perception of magic is about to be drastically changed forever.'_

--

In a rare moment where Harry was by himself, he was walking down a corridor to his last lesson for the afternoon when Professor McGonagall came in. "Mr. Potter," she greeted, going straight to the point. "The Headmaster wishes to see you. Your last lesson professor has been informed of your absence – oh, and the password is 'Sugar Quills'."

"Thank you, professor," Harry replied politely as he walked by her. "See you tomorrow night."

Harry pondered what Dumbledore wanted with him – after all, hadn't he done well in the First Task?

As he approached the familiar gargoyle, he announced the password – "Sugar quills." As the stone statue opened, Harry entered.

"Harry, my dear boy," Dumbledore beamed at him from his half-moon spectacles, his eyes twinkling. "Please come in. Lemon drop?"  
"No, thank you, sir," Harry replied. "What did you want me for, Headmaster?"

"I was merely curious…" the elder man sighed. "As you know, Harry, even your presence in the Tri-wizard tournament puts you in grave danger. Although your performance in the First Task was quite excellence, I was wondering if you required any assistance of any kind, or had any questions. While I cannot reveal to you the nature of the Second Task, I will endeavour to keep you 'up to date', as the muggles put it."

Harry thought for a moment. "Thank you Headmaster, but no thank you. I can work out the Second Task for myself…although I would like to know if you recommended any good books that would help me survive this Tournament."

"That I can do, Harry, and might I also add I am glad to see you taking the initiative with private lessons – that would certainly give you an advantage. Now where was it…" the Headmaster beamed as he walked through a door besides his office, returning with a faded, crusted book. "A colleague of mine gave this to me in my youth. It proved extremely useful then, it may prove useful to you now."

Harry took it gratefully. "Thank you sir," he said. "If there's nothing else, I think I'll be taking my leave now."  
"Of course, Harry…" but as he turned to leave, Albus added, "Oh, and has your Head of House told you about the Yule Ball yet?"

Harry frowned. "Yule Ball?"  
"It's tradition a Yule Ball be hosted during the Tri-Wizard tournament, and it is mandatory for the champions to enter." Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling. "You'd better start thinking about finding a partner, Harry. But of course, with your boost in popularity, I'm sure that this will be a simple task."  
_You have no idea, _Harry thought as he exited. _No idea at all._

--

Of course, this did explain the rather…hungry looks he had been getting from girls all over the castle.

Once the Yule Ball had been announced, he had been asked from a huge range – from giggly, small little First years to dazzling-looking Seventh years.

To avoid them, he had been frequently using the secret passages and always carried his invisibility cloak on him.

Ron and Hermione hadn't taken to well to his threats, and thus shot him fearful, but angry glares whenever he walked past them.

Ron himself had been attempting to spread rumours about him, but unsurprisingly he had been essentially lynched by a mob of frenzied girls and completely embarrassed, decided it was better to keep his mouth shut about such things.

--

"Keep your mind on your opponent at all times, Potter!" Snape yelled. "One slip and the next second your head will be lopped off."

Harry nodded as he stepped back, his blunted training sword in front of him warily.

Snape leapt forward once again, to have his slash thrown aside with a quick parry. Harry moved with several quick stabs that were not meant to hurt him, but to slow the Potions master down, all of which did their job as Snape moved back several steps as he deflected them.

Harry rushed forward, whirling around and bringing his weapon around, Snape raising his own blade up as the two swords met with a sharp clang.

Snape smirked as he twisted his sword around, spinning to slam his elbow across Harry's arm, opening him up as he pressed his sword against his neck.

"You sacrificed defense for the ending blow," the potions master said coolly. "Do not do this until you are absolutely sure that the opponent will have no reply. In this instance I goaded you into attacking by moving back."

Snape removed his sword from Harry's neck. "I believe that is enough for today," he drawled. "You have much to consider."

"Yes, sir," Harry muttered, placing his sword back on the rack as he grabbed his wand, conjuring up a towel to wipe sweat off his form. "And might I ask, sir…why did you learn the sword anyways?"

Snape sneered as he looked at him intently before replying. "Many of the Potions ingredients that are required for…certain Potions are very much spell-resistant."

And that was all that he said.

--

Luna was waiting for him as he exited. "Ready to go to the Room, Harry?" she asked.

He smiled. "Of course. Did you remember the books?"

The silver-eyed Ravenclaw took the book on the nature of magic and the one from Dumbledore out of her pack. "I hid them from the other girls in my Dormitory. They were the only two books still remaining in my folder," she said casually, as if they were just discussing the weather.

Harry's eyes saddened. "Luna, why can't they just leave you alone?"

"I'm not sure about it myself, really," she said as they both headed down. "None of them seem to really like me that much. The House calls me 'Loony' Luna Lovegood."

Harry frowned. "That's pretty childish."

"A Seventh year made it up," she said simply.

"So you don't have any friends?" Harry questioned. "No friends in your own bloody House?"

"Oh, it's quite alright," Luna dismissed. "People usually leave me alone. It's just that some people like to show their dislike of me more profoundly."

"Just because it's alright with you doesn't mean it's right," Harry said dryly. "Haven't you talked to any teachers?"

"Oh I have occasionally when I start losing more important things – but there's little they can do about it, really."

Harry filed this away in his mind for later, under his 'things to take care of' list. He wasn't going to forget, oh no. His Occlumency practise had made his memory much better.

In fact, the better Harry got at Occlumency, the more efficient and quicker he acted. He could literally, think of a fair number of spells in the middle of a duel to counteract with, jump ahead of his opponents to predict what they would do next, and react lightning-fast.

Harry vowed also to start investigating into the Mind Arts.

Once they went into the Room of Requirement after thinking of a place to study and rest, they found themselves in a room filled with many large bookcases and several beds with bedside trays of cookies and milk.

It seemed silly, but it was perfect for a 'sleepover', as a girly girl would call it.

The two had grown accustomed to sleeping in the Room of Requirement. The beds were perfectly suited to their individual needs, and since in Luna's case, everybody hated her, and in Harry's case, everybody (mainly girls) wouldn't STOP bothering him, it was the best place for them to get some much-needed rest.

Dumbledore's book was absolutely intriguing. It was not an actual book, in a way, but a notebook that was full of handwritten notes and sketches of a huge variety of spells and enchantments, both Light and Dark.

And speaking of Light and Dark magic, the Ministry-banned book they had got out was extremely clear on this topic – there was no light and dark magic.

Harry was reading it now, looking through the text with great interest:

'_What is Light magic, and what is Dark magic? How does one even define either of them? Even the Unforgivable Curses – in drastic circumstances, would one offer a prisoner the opportunity for a quick and merciful death using the Killing Curse? The Imperious Curse offers a way to restrain even the most insane criminals, and the Cruciatus Curse should not be used at all. It is comparable to a muggle drug – once you try it, you slowly become addicted. The other Unforgivables are more practical, although draining for an inexperienced user and have their own seductive taint.'_

Harry frowned. The Unforgivable Curses, at the moment seemed not to have any practical use for him. Especially in the Tri-Wizard tournament, where everything he did was made public.

Speaking of the Tri-Wizard tournament, Harry had done absolutely nothing with trying to figure out what the Second Task was. He had opened it several times himself privately but couldn't figure out what to do with the incessant noise. Although he hadn't asked Luna yet as it was an unnecessary nuisance on their part into their foray into the very nature of magic itself.

A wand, as it seemed, was merely a way in which magic would be able to flow out of. The magic itself came from the person. Therefore, it was possible to do wandless and wordless magic.

Harry had tried both of them a little. Wandless magic was the real key – if you mastered that, then wordless magic was child's play – but trying the levitation charm wandlessly, he could only levitate a feather very shakily but promised himself to practise further.

"I need a book on defense against the Unforgivable curses," Harry spoke loudly, and with a quiet 'pop' one appeared besides him, aptly titled _**Defense Against**_ _**the Unforgivable Curses**_.

He frowned as he realised something: he still needed a partner for the ball.

"Oh Luna, would you go to the Ball with me?" Harry suggested quite leisurely.

Luna mumbled something incoherent as she was too engrossed in Dumbledore's notebook to register what he had just said.

Harry sighed and took in a deep breath. "Luna, WOULD YOU GO TO THE BALL WITH ME?"

It took a second to register what Harry had said before Luna looked up, her eyes wide. "Did the Humperdincks cast a charm on my hearing, or did you just ask me to the ball?"

"I need someone to go to the ball with since I'm a Champion," Harry explained patiently. "And since you're basically my only friend…"

"Not really," Luna said as levelly as she could. "I'm certain many other girls in my year would be your 'friend' so they could go to the Yule Ball with you."

Harry frowned. "What? I haven't heard anybody say anything."

"That's simply because you frequently use the secret passages," Luna replied.

Harry folded his arms in an annoyed fashion. "And what do they say?"

"There is a Third Year girl called Romilda Vane who is quite popular in Gryffindor," Luna said. "Every morning and afternoon she tries to search for you, and occasionally yells out 'It's a shame Third Years can't go to the Yule Ball unless invited'."

"That's not very subtle, is it?" Harry remarked.

"Not really. I believe the entirety of the Third Year Ravenclaw girls also wants to go with you – I've heard a number of them saying that they wish to bed you afterwards if they did go." Luna stated with a serious face.

Harry laughed. "They said that?"

"Yes."

"Well too bad for them, isn't it?" he stopped laughing but still had a smile on his face. "I'm going with you and that's final."

"Are you sure Harry? Even though I'm not exactly…normal?" Luna asked with a frown.

Harry laughed once more. "I'm not exactly normal either now, Luna am I? And I like you because you're not normal – you're smarter and better than most of the girls in Hogwarts. Heck I think you'd even give Hermione a run for her money."

And that was true. Hermione, while exceptionally intelligent, placed too much of it on books, which could be biased, false or fake. Too much dependency on one thing can severely weaken your mind.

Luna, however, took a part of her knowledge from books, but the majority from the world around her.

The good thing about being 'loony' is that you are left to your own devices – in Luna's case, it made her much more observant and sensitive to the constantly shifting world around her.

For instance, in her Second Year, Luna leisurely sat near a place where the Fifth Year Gryffindors used to have Wizard's Duels with Slytherin. The Slytherins, of course, had access to many dark curses, and Gryffindors also had their own nasty spells. Luna learnt from frequency of use which ones were favored, and added them to her wealth of knowledge. The wand movements were registered and also remembered, and the incantation easily memorized.

Those Gryffindors and Slytherins never suspected. They merely dismissed her and went on with their duels.

Because of the frequency of the duels with Slytherins, Luna remembered quite a lot of darker spells that they used.

Although some were…debatable, her Ravenclaw mind always searched for more, and despite her own hesitation, she remembered them and practiced them secretly. Her knowledge also helped her to remember useful spells to counter the ones many students regularly sent at her.

And now, in her Third Year, after reading this book on the nature of magic, Luna completely freed herself from hesitation.

It made sense, after all. It was not the spell, but the intentions, that made it good or evil. Light or Dark was just a misconception for the Light and Dark sides in wizards – their own capability for good and evil.

Light spells, dark spells – they were all the same to Luna – and she remembered them.

"I suppose, I could…" she whispered hesitantly before smiling. "I'll owl daddy and get him to send me some money for a dress or one of mum's dresses. I'm not really a dress sort of girl, but I suppose I could make an exception…"

Harry grinned. "Great!"

Luna then hastily added, "Oh yes, I do so hope you can dance well."

Harry's face fell. "D-Dance?"

"Did you expect we would fly around on half-breed Dibblywacks?" Luna asked with a frown. "Of course you must do formal ballroom dancing."

Harry shook his head sheepishly. "I guess you'll have to teach me Luna."

"That's something you'd have to learn for yourself, I'm afraid," Luna replied coolly.

--

Thankfully, Professor McGonagall was a more than willing instructor. So he had her as a private tutor TWICE a week.

Dancing itself was easier than he'd thought – well at least after Flitwick's unconventional lessons. For example, in one, to improve footwork, Harry had to dodge spells while his feet were tied together.

Even with the rapid approach of the Second Task, Harry wasn't worried – or not as worried as one could be. He had, after all, still not gotten around to trying to figure out the riddle of the golden egg – he was impossibly busy, and didn't want it to intrude on Luna's and his' little practise and study sessions.

As he approached efficiency with the sword, Snape had, if possible, upped his demands. He only expected perfection, and Harry was determined to give perfection – Snape was by far the hardest to please out of all of his teachers, and thankfully he hadn't been targeted at Potions for a while now. That honour belonged to his former friend Weasley.

Despite his busyness, his marks were steadily on the rise. If possible, more frequent use of his magic had made it much more efficient and he found it easier to wield a wand and learn new spells. Learning Battle Transfiguration had given him much better grasp of the theory of normal Transfiguration, and his defensive and dueling skills were becoming sharper than they ever were – charms was also easier to manage as well.

His wandless and wordless magic had also begun to improve, but only ever so slightly.

In short, Harry was having the time of his life.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Oops, slight mess up on that password in the previous chapter. I'd appreciate it if you guys kept your eyes out for that stuff and tell me in a review, because I don't bother to check over my work.

-------

Harry traced several runic inscriptions into the ground, sweat pouring down the sides of his head.

He glanced once more at the book and at the runes to make sure they were perfect before holding the ritual knife tightly and dug it into the dirt, drawing a large circle.

Harry walked into the middle of the ritual circle as he glanced around the Chamber of Secrets before looking down at his book, reading through the instructions several times just to make sure.

He softly begun chanting the Gaelic incantation, standing up with the knife raised above his heart.

_And here…we….go._

The circle burst with a flash of light as the runes flared with ethereal green light, and Harry took in a deep breath as he plunged the knife into his heart, gritting his teeth as the cold blade pierced into his chest.

Long tendrils of flame suddenly burst out of the circle, ensnaring him as sparks of magical energy crackled around his body.

Harry found himself being spun wildly around a flaming vortex that grew larger and larger as blood spilled out of his wound in his heart.

He suddenly gave off a hoarse scream as immeasurable pain engulfed him and his world turned to black.

-------

Of course, normally Harry doesn't do random obscure empowering rituals from a thousand-year old book in the secret library of a Chamber of Secrets created by an obsessive pureblood who wanted to kill all the half-bloods.

But ever since his visions had steadily returned, Harry decided to make a little venture back to the Chamber of Secrets to see what he could find.

And as he progressed, he realised why it was just called the 'Chamber of Secrets'.

The Chamber he had entered wasn't the real one – it was just a lie, a farce, an illusion.

Harry expected nothing more from Slytherin, of course.

The true Chamber – the one designed to equip any of Slytherin's future heirs for hostile takeover – lay within and was only revealed when Harry climbed past the passageway the statue of Salazar Slytherin created to go into a dead end – where there lay another tiny silver snake at the bottom, hidden underneath the roots and mud.

It had taken a while to find, as Harry didn't believe that this passageway was just a dead end. When he had opened this to lead down to _another _Chamber – a large circular room with several stone doors around the wall.

It was a fully stocked war centre. In one room was a large storehouse with lots of food; charmed to stay fresh until eaten meaning they had easily survived the millennia.

Another large room was a 'war room', of sorts. A large, ancient map of Wizarding Britain was mounted on the wall, and although out of date it was surprisingly detailed.

And in the only other room that Harry looked in, was a large library – one of the biggest libraries he had ever laid eyes on in his life.

Everything was there – even a thousand years old and the magic was still relevant.

And it was here he found a ritual that could drastically increase his power.

If Voldemort attacked him again this year – then he would be prepared.

-------

Harry blinked his eyes fiercely as he found himself lying on the hard cold ground of the Outer Chamber of Secrets.

He had grown accustomed to calling this the Outer Chamber. The true one he discovered he labeled the Inner Chamber.

He fumbled for his glasses, which had fallen off, putting them on.

_Whoa… _as he put them on, the whole world went fuzzy.

But when he took them off…everything suddenly became sharp.

Harry stood up and realised he was standing over the blackened grounds on which he had done the ritual.

He saw the ritual book lying a couple of metres away from him, so he went and grabbed it, leafing through the page carefully with a frown.

'_Once the ritual is completed, the wizard normally falls into a deep sleep that, for the average wizard, will last half an hour. This slumber may be longer, depending on the power of the wizard.'_

Harry frowned as he re-read the ritual several times. This ritual wasn't meant to gain extra power – it was meant to unlock any remaining power that the wizard already had at whatever stage in life he may be, and Harry had also added a couple of runes that would use whatever excess magic he gave out to repair his stunted physical body. He may not have been an expert on runes – the ones he drew were EXTREMELY crude – but at least it worked.

It was then that Harry realised something. He had never felt better in all of his life. He laughed incredulously as he flexed arm muscles he thought he never had, and as he moved around he got the impression that he was taller, as well.

His eyes widened as he glanced at his watch. "What? I've been sleeping all night!" It was true – his watch showed that it was at least six-thirty!

_And an average wizard only sleeps for half an hour… _Harry mused as he went to put away the book, and then went out.

-------

"Good morning Luna," Harry said with a smile as he sat at the end of the Ravenclaw table with her. "How are you doing?"  
"You didn't come to see me last night," Luna stated bluntly as she picked at her own food.

Harry's face dropped at the heavily concealed disappointment in her voice. Over the past few months, he had gotten much better at reading the mysterious and deep third-year Ravenclaw, and he knew when all was not as it should be.

Luna was an excellent liar, and excellent at covering up her emotions through a mask of indifference.

She was lonely, of course. Harry was her only real friend around here.

Harry also frowned at the odd looks he was receiving from everybody else – looks of disgust, pity, scorn. Why couldn't they see Luna for who she really was?

From that moment on, Harry decided that he would share a lot more with Luna.

He had kept some things secret, such as his own personal training and the Chamber of Secrets, Occlumency, wordless magic, etc, etc. But from now on he would share more of them with her.

"I'll explain later," he said.

He frowned as Hedwig flew in, dropping a letter. Grabbing it, he took out his wand and cast a few dark detector spells on it. As he gave Hedwig a piece of toast, he opened the inconspicuous looking letter.

_Dear Harry_

_I've heard from the Headmaster about the First Task – well done! However, everything is starting to look decidedly fishy. I've been out and observing a few former Death Eaters and quite a number of them are on edge. Be careful, and be ready at all times. _

_-Snuffles_

Luna glanced over at the note. "What a strange codename for an Unspeakable," she commented.

Harry laughed. "Snuffles isn't an Unspeakable…and Luna, I'm sorry that I didn't come to see you last night. I just had a lot on my mind…" he grew serious and much more solemn. "Luna, tonight I'm going to meet you outside your Common Room at nine-thirty. Is that alright?"

She nodded.

Harry smiled. "Good…"

-------

Harry walked through the corridors, his Invisibility Cloak draped over him as he ventured forth to the Ravenclaw Common Room, Marauder's Map in pocket.

He had been out numerous times beforehand this year, and easily knew the pattern of Filch's patrol. It was thus relatively easy to completely avoid the crazed squib, as Harry would rather not take too many chances with Lady Luck. He had plenty of close brushes in the past, and this year, being a Tri-Wizard champion, he had a nasty feeling that his luck was steadily growing worse.

As he got to the entrance to the Ravenclaw Common Room, he looked around and frowned to see that Luna wasn't there.

A pale blue flame erupted from his wand-tip, completely unseen by anyone outside its range but illuminating the area quite clearly. "Luna," he whispered. "Are you here?"

"I'm here, Harry," Luna's soft voice said.

Harry whirled around. "Where are you…oh wait – _Everto Os_," he muttered as he pointed his wand to his eyes. The spell had been originally used to hunt for demons in the early days of wizards. However, it worked just as well for seeing through magical illusions and cloaking.

His vision suddenly became a mix of vibrant colours as he suddenly saw Luna standing before him. "What are you using?" he asked with a frown.

"Disillusionment," she whispered back. "Professor Moody came lumbering along, so I hid myself."

"Professor Moody?" Harry asked with a frown. Why in blazes would the scarred ex-Auror be wandering around Hogwarts at this time of night? Oh well, as much as he'd like to find out, his curiosity was rather dangerous and besides he promised that he'd go with Luna tonight.

"Well come under my Invisibility Cloak," he hissed.

Luna reappeared with her face in complete surprise. "You have an Invisibility Cloak?" she asked.

"Yes, now come on, or else Filch will come back any moment now," Harry replied.

As Luna came under the Invisibility Cloak, Harry immediately started blushing pink. "Um, Luna, why are you so close?" The smaller blonde-haired girl was literally pressed up against Harry's robes and he could feel the heat coming off her body.

"So the Nargles don't find us," she stated seriously.

"Okay," Harry stammered before mentally berating himself. _What the hell is wrong with me? Hermione's been with me under here heaps of times and I've never been this…embarrassed._

It was safe to say that Luna wasn't close to him just because of the Nargles, though, as she felt his new muscles underneath the robes. _…Well. These weren't here before._

Although the trip was extremely awkward for both of them, they somehow managed to make it to the Girl's bathroom.

Luna didn't even bat an eyelash as Harry hissed _"Open" _in parseltongue, and the hidden passage revealed itself.

"_Stairs," _Harry hissed as a long flight of stairs suddenly appeared from within the stone.

He took the Invisibility Cloak off of both of them and the two descended down into the empty Outer Chamber.

"Is this the Chamber of Secrets?" Luna asked as she looked at the smug statue of Salazar Slytherin.

"Quite full of himself, isn't he?" Harry commented as they both looked up at the statue. "Anyway, where was I – oh yes… _Ron likes little boys in his bed_," he hissed the password as the statue split open to reveal the hidden corridor where the basilisk once was. He had changed the password just in case Voldemort tried to access this place again.

"_Open," _he repeated again as the corridor moved up to reveal the Inner Chamber. "Welcome to Slytherin's secret chamber," Harry introduced to Luna.

However, the blonde-haired girl kept staring at Harry's cloak.

"Err, Luna…is there a stain on my cloak?" Harry asked with a frown.

"Harry, have you ever heard of the Deathly Hallows?" Luna asked quietly.

The raven-haired teenager frowned as he turned around. This was the most serious he had ever seen Luna act. "Um, no. Are they important?"

"It's a common bedtime story," Luna said, the mistiness from her voice completely disappearing. "The story goes is that three brothers who, travelling together, reach an impassable river. They make a magical bridge over the river. Halfway across the bridge, they meet the personification of Death who is angry for losing another three victims. He pretends to be impressed by them and grants each a wish as a reward. The eldest brother asks for an unbeatable dueling wand. The middle brother asks for the ability to resurrect the dead. The youngest brother realises Death's intentions and asks for a way to stop Death from following him. Death gives him his cloak of invisibility. Afterwards, the brothers go their separate ways."

Absorbing all of this, Harry asked the obvious. "And you think that my cloak is that Cloak of Invisibility?"

"There's only one way to find out," Luna said with a small smile as she pulled out her wand. "My mum taught me this one after she told me the story. She made it herself." Tapping the cloak, she announced, _"Ostendo sum nex sanctio!"_

The cloak glowed a pale blue before a strange symbol that Harry had never seen before appeared on the smooth silvery surface. "What in the world is that?"

"That's the symbol for the Deathly Hallows," Luna said excitedly. "I'm even more excited now than I was when I heard the Crumple-Horned Snorkack's mating call!"

Harry nearly slapped his head. "Wait…so what happened to the three brothers?"

Luna began to rub the cloak fondly. "The eldest brother boasts of his unbeatable wand from Death and was killed in his sleep, the wand taken away from him. The second committed suicide after seeing his deceased fiancé, but wasn't able to be with her. And the third used the cloak to elude Death all his life, before passing it on to his son. He and Death then departed as old friends."

Harry pondered this. "So what happened to the unbeatable wand?"  
"The Elder Wand and the Resurrection Stone, which is about the size of a common pebble, disappeared," Luna stated as she finally gave the Cloak back to Harry. "The Elder Wand is also known as the Death Stick, as when it pops up in history, death and violence follow."

"And what happens when all three come into possession of a single user?" Harry asked, truly puzzled.

"In magical theory that person would become the Master of Death. But of course, the fates couldn't have that, so they created Hallows of Life," Luna said casually as they began walking down the steps.

"Hallows of Life?" Harry asked with a frown.

"It's in the _Quibbler, _issue twelve," Luna said. "The Hallows of Life were created personally by the powers that be, as they didn't like Death handing out such powerful items to wizards. So they made them to counteract their effects, and dispersed them across the world, giving them to worthy wielders."

All this talk of Hallows was making Harry's head spin. "And what are they?"

"The first is the Shield." Harry led them into the war centre, where they sat. "It's supposed to be a small shield that can be mounted on the arm, and is meant to defend against the Elder Wand. It is rumoured that the Shield is the only object in the world which can block a Killing Curse."

Harry's mouth opened as if he were about to say something before deciding it wasn't a good idea and closing it again. "No way."

"The second cancels out the effects of the Resurrection Stone. It is the Sword, which can penetrate and kill anything," Luna said softly. "Even those who have already passed into the afterlife. And the third is the Eye, which can see through any magical illusion, wards, Fidelius Charm, etcetera."

Harry grew silent at this. To think that six objects could be this powerful, was simply staggering.

"But of course, nobody knows where to find any of them," Luna dismissed. "Now, what did you want to talk to me about, Harry?"

Harry sighed as he slicked his hair back in a gesture of frustration (which was futile as the hair simply popped back to its messy state). "I just wanted to say I'm sorry, Luna. I've known you all this year, you've been open with me, and I've…well I've been keeping secrets."

Luna looked at him sadly as she turned away, shifting her feet unconsciously. "I know, Harry. But I knew that from the start when we became friends."

"You did?" Harry asked in puzzlement.

Luna smiled softly as she looked at him. "Everybody has their secrets, Harry," she whispered. "Especially you, who have seen things and done things that nobody our age should have experienced."

Harry winced at this and took a step back.

Luna moved forward a step, hesitation in her silvery eyes. "I'm sorry…"

"No, it's alright. You're right, as always," Harry said with a forced smile before calming down. "But secrets are meant to be shared among close friends, aren't they?"

"Then why don't you tell Ronald and Hermione?" Luna asked as her eyes narrowed. "Or did you already?"

"They know some of my secrets, but not all of them, especially not this year. I was talking about you, Luna," Harry said, smiling.

The blonde haired girl lowered her head. Harry could have sworn she was going pink. "Really?"  
"Really," Harry assured her.

They both grew silent. There were several tense moments of awkwardness between them.

It is to be understood, of course, that Harry wasn't exactly that much of a social person, not that he ever had a choice. It is also to be understood that Luna was basically left alone in her younger years or picked on.

Therefore it is logical to assume, that two socially insecure people, would not know how to act in such a situation.

Thankfully by fate, Harry looked at his Marauder's map, which suddenly showed something very strange.

"Barty Crouch?" he wondered aloud as he looked at the dot. "What's he doing?"

"Perhaps you should go find out," Luna said absent-mindedly as she looked around.

"Maybe I should," Harry commented before grabbing his Invisibility Cloak. He then hesitated. It was only for a brief excursion, and it would give him a chance to practise his stealth skills and charms if he didn't use it.

Besides, especially as it was a Deathly Hallow… "Look after this for me. You can look around, and I'll be back in a moment."

"Okay, Harry," Luna said before taking the cloak and skipping around the place curiously.

Harry checked to see his wand in his pocket before conjuring a black balaclava out of thin air. He put it on and exited out of the Chambers.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Some reviews have some interesting conceptions of the Hallows of Life. I have everything planned out, but I'd like to say it is the complete opposite of the Deathly Hallows. It's not even called Lively Hallows or something like that, it's Hallows of Life – even the naming is different. Everything about them will be the complete opposite – and as such, there will be no 'hiding in plain sight'. It's not dramatic enough anyway.

-------

"_Umbra Misceo," _Harry murmured as he cast the shadow camouflage charm on himself.

The young wizard's shape seemed to melt into the shadow as his form broke up and blended into darkness.

Harry looked down at himself to see he had blended perfectly into the darkness. It was not as good as a Disillusionment charm, but Harry needed the practise anyway. He had been using the Invisibility Cloak for far too long – what happened if one day, he was caught without it?

As he snuck through the corridors, Harry quickly remembered to put some silencing charms on his feet. It wouldn't be good if they could hear him now, would it?

After a minute or so, his eyes had quickly adjusted. He was now getting to the place where he saw Barty Crouch's label, but as he looked around wildly, nobody was there…

He left the Marauder's Map in Luna's possession also, simply because this was his first excursion without the Invisibility Cloak and he didn't want to risk losing it if he got caught. All they would get if he got caught were a couple of Sickles in his pocket and a half-eaten pack of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

There were several dull wooden thuds. Harry jumped in shock as they came from behind him before darting into the shadows.

The Defense against the Dark Arts professor lumbered across the corridor.

_Professor Moody? _Harry wondered in shock. _What…_

Inconspicuously Harry followed him, surprised that the wizened ex-Auror was this careless as he seemed to be an extremely paranoid fellow.

As he followed him, Harry quickly noticed that they were in the Dungeons.

_If Snape finds me here he'll be celebrating Christmas early, _Harry mused. _But I need to find out what Professor Moody's up to._

He found out quickly as Moody limped into the Potions classroom.

Harry gulped as he hesitated briefly, before following him in. _I can feel Snape's breath on my neck now…_

He nearly squeaked as Moody absentmindedly used his wand to flick on the magical lights and candles before diving behind one of the desks.

As he looked around the corner, he was relieved to see Moody hadn't noticed, and was going into Snape's potion storeroom. _Why does he need potion ingredients? What's he up to?_

After several minutes, Moody gathered his ingredients into a large bag, shrunk it and then put it into his pocket before beginning to lumber out.

"Professor Moody."

Harry nearly shivered as he recognised that smooth, silky voice. _Oh boy – Snape. This must be my lucky night._

Moody however appeared unfazed. "Professor Snape," he acknowledged coolly.

"I heard a noise, and wondered whether the person responsible for stealing from my Potions storerooms had returned," Snape replied silkily. "I now see it is only you. Would you mind explaining your presence here?"

"I was patrolling the corridor, and heard a noise down here, so I came down," Professor Moody grunted.

"And I'm sure, with your revolving magical eye, you would easily be able to see through magical cloaking methods and physical obstructions," Snape sneered. "So tell me, what is it you see?"

Harry had just finished processing this information before his eyes widened. _"Nox noctis maximus!" _he uttered, waving his wand around his head in a circular motion.

Immediately the magical lights and candles suddenly flickered out.

As Harry edged his way to the exit, he kept a close eye on both wizards, who had their wands out.

"It seems I was right," Moody growled, although his voice seemed a little nervous. That was clear, as Harry did witness him stealing Snape's potions ingredients.

"Indeed," Snape said silkily. "Would you kindly tell me as to whom it is?"

Moody cursed. "I can't see – it's too dark."

Harry inwardly sighed in relief. If he was using an Invisibility Cloak, Moody would have seen it right away, but he was just using the shadow camouflage charm to help blend better into the shadows. He was essentially already there but just hidden by the darkness – Harry was surprised that Moody didn't add night vision to his magical eye.

"_Incendia Grex!" _he whispered and from his wand spewed forth a flock of birds that screeched around wildly with fierce bangs – they were on fire, after all. It was a prank spell that Fred and George taught him after him asking if there were any nifty spells useful for causing distractions.

Snape cursed as he attempted to put them out with a squirt of water, but all he succeeded in doing was making their fires more powerful than ever.

In the ensuing chaos, when the birds began to set fire to the benches and chairs, Harry quickly ran out of there easily unnoticed by the two professors.

-------

Returning to the Inner Chamber, Harry smiled to see that Luna had propped herself onto a chair and was reading a book from Slytherin's vast library.

As he slunk onto one of the couches he conjured out of a wooden bench beside her, she offhandedly commented, "It seems that Slytherin tried to breed a Hydra. It didn't exactly work, as he couldn't figure out how to mate all the animals at one time."

"And what do you suggest that he try to do?" Harry asked.

"It wasn't in his time, of course, but use a spell for artificial insemination, naturally," Luna said. "He was even nice enough make detailed notes on how to breed mythical animals and what they should eat and how they should be treated."

"That might be useful later," Harry commented. He had seen for himself the destructive capabilities of dragons – to have one as a pet… he suddenly got a mental picture of him riding a dragon and chasing Granger and Weasley across the Quidditch Pitch.

He grabbed a random book on obscure dark spells, and began to read it.

A full half an hour passed before the pair as they sat reading in dead silence, with only the sound of a page turning to break it occasionally.

Harry finally decided to break the silence and speak. "Luna, what do you think of Sirius Black?"

Luna blinked before turning up to look at him. "He's innocent, of course."

Harry was the one to blink next as he took several moments to digest this. "Really?"

"Of course." Luna stated. "He was framed for the murder of your parents by the Ministry of Magic in a vain attempt to divert the attention of the media from their secret illegal breeding of Heliopaths."

"Uh…right." Harry rubbed his forehead. "So would you ever mind meeting him?"

Luna blinked again. "Of course not."

-------

Luna seemed surprising open to the idea of meeting an escaped prisoner of Azkaban who was convicted for killing thirteen people. Aside from the fact that he was innocent, of course, Luna had no idea of that. Either she was completely suicidal, truly believed in the _Quibbler's _theory, or trusted Harry that she wouldn't die or get maimed, or tortured, or whatever else a dark wizard could do.

Harry liked to think it was a bit of all three. It seemed to suit her, after all.

The starry night sky winked at him from above as he looked up at the heavens, his wand in his hands.

Hogwarts had seemed to be his place of refuge, his second home, a place where he could revel in his 'freakishness', as Vernon would call it.

But ever since this year, these walls had become less and less welcoming.

Even as he walked down the corridors to his next class, Harry found himself with one hand in his pocket, his reassuring wand gripped tightly in his hand, glancing about as if to see Voldemort himself popping out of the walls, ready to attack.

All these years, and he couldn't see it. Hogwarts was just as dangerous as Privet Drive was to him.

Every day he finished class, if he did not have any private lessons he would be itching to get away to where things made sense. Where he could build up his knowledge and where he could be the best he could be, and spend time with Luna.

He looked at his wand with a strange, distant look in his eyes. Magic had become easier and easier for him to do as he practised more and more. It was just like doing something over and over until it became second nature, or exercising regularly.

There was a rustling behind him.

Harry spun around, his wand pointed and ready. "Who's there?" he demanded.

A tall, muscular man with the lower body of the horse emerged from the shadows.

Harry's eyes widened as he recognised him immediately. "Firenze?"

"Harry Potter," the centaur greeted. "We meet again."

The boy lowered his wand slightly, but his eyes were still wary and alert. "Why have you come?"

The centaur looked up to regard the stars. "Mars is bright tonight."

Harry sighed as he realised he wouldn't get any straight answers from the centaur, but Firenze looked down again to meet his gaze. "We are on the dawn of war, Harry Potter. My people know it, as do yours and those of the other magical races."

The air was thick with tension as Harry responded. "And what do you suggest that I do?"

Firenze's cool eyes looked at him. "The stars never lie. You are at the centre of it. You and one other."

Harry's eyes narrowed. "Him."

"My people keep their readings to themselves, but this war involves the centaurs also," Firenze said. "The balance of dark and light depends on it. One shall stand and rise up to take his rightful place. The other," he added ominously, "Shall fall."

As the centaur disappeared into the darkness, Harry was befuddled. "What do you mean? 'Rise up to take his rightful place'? Who are you talking about?"

He sat back down again and sighed. The centaurs never gave a bloody good answer.

Another hour passed, with Harry simply looking up to the dark sky, counting the stars. He never did get a chance to appreciate the beauty of the night sky. Most nights would be spent in the dorms if he was at Hogwarts, or in the small bedroom at the Dursleys. Harry never realised how relaxing it was to sit under the sky and do some star-gazing…

The snap of a branch alerted him to the fact he was not alone.

Harry immediately got back up again, looking around wildly. _It can't be Firenze, can it? Didn't Granger say that centaurs are some of the best hunters in the forest?_

He was suddenly jarred out of his thoughts as a distorted voice shouted, _"Crucio!"_

Harry's eyes widened as he ducked down, dodging the curse before he aimed his wand. _"Incendio!"_

A long stream of fire, exponentially larger than what most wizards his age could produce was produced, streaking through the air and burning through the trees.

The man gave off several surprised yelps before a glowing shield surrounded him, giving off his location to the boy wizard.

"_Evinco!" _Harry barked as he ran forward, sending the dark stunning curse towards his attacker. _"Confringo! Reducto! SECTUMSEMPRA!"_

The man produced another shield which deflected the dark stunner, but it shattered at the impact from the next two spells and he screamed as the cutting curse slashed through his arm.

"_Incarcerous, Stupefy," _Harry snapped off, binding him in strong ropes.

He walked over, grabbing the man's Death Eater mask and pulling it off – and promptly staggered back in shock. "Remus?" he whispered.

This whole scene was so…wrong. But even as shocked as Harry was, he was still alert enough to spin around and deflect the stunner with a quick _Protego. _

Four more Death Eaters had appeared behind him, sending myriads of stunners and other sickly-looking curses.

Harry slammed his wand onto the ground, sweat appearing on his forehead as he brought up a wall of stone. Battle Transfiguration never got any easier, after all, but at the very least, he could make something that at least had some strength instead of brittle wood.

Harry checked Remus again – sure enough, his eyes were a little vague and unfocused, indicating the works of the Imperious curse. Guilt seized him briefly as he realised how many nasty wounds he had caused the ailing werewolf, but he snapped out of those thoughts quickly as he hastily cast some basic protection charms around his former professor before turning around – just as the stone wall crumbled from the onslaught.

_Four Death Eaters? Good – I could use a challenge, _Harry thought.

"_Crucio!" _the Death Eaters shouted simultaneously as the boy wizard cried out _"Avis!"_

The stream of birds from his wand was enough to slow down the illegal curses so that Harry could get out of the way. He raised his wand and closed his eyes. _"Mico!"_

The spell sent up a bright flash of light and a deafening screech, just as he had planned for it to do. He then opened his eyes and shouted, _"Percutio Incidere! Sectumsempra! CONFRINGO!"_

The first spell let forth a long arc of electrical energy that struck a Death Eater square in the chest and lanced straight through, sending out wild sparks of energy at the impact. The man gasped and stumbled back before crumpling to the ground.

The second spell ripped a long gash in the Death Eater's chest, spilling out blood as he fell forwards and dropped his wand, attempting to close off the wound with both hands.

And the last flew backwards several feet as the blasting curse ripped straight through him, tearing several of his organs out in long strings as his corpse fell to the ground.

Harry stomped forward, his rage clearly visible in his face as he grabbed the wounded Death Eater's face. "Who sent you?"

"Go to hell, Potter." The Death Eater managed to spit out before coughing out blood.

Harry looked at the man with an indifferent look in his eyes. "Wrong answer. _Imperio!"_

For a moment, the spell worked, and Harry felt his magic link with the man's mind before suddenly it snapped off again.

Harry blinked, then realised that he needed to have stronger intention than just his rage. _"IMPERIO!" _he shouted, and this time the spell worked as long as he needed.

For a powerful wizard like Harry, who had the focus and mind of an average Occlumens, even an Unforgivable wasn't too much of a strain as he felt his magic link once again with the man's mind. "Tell me who sent you," he ordered.

"The Dark Lord," the Death Eater replied in a monotone.

"Tell me why the Dark Lord sent you." Harry wasn't surprised at this answer, but more information was needed.

"He feared that a faster plan was needed to procure your blood, as the current plan left out too many unknowns, most importantly your level of magical prowess."

"Then tell me what the plan was here," Harry replied.

"The Dark Lord instructed us to capture the werewolf Remus Lupin. We were to then cast the Imperius on him, and use him to attack you. The shock of his identity would provide us time to stun and disable you so that we could Portkey off the grounds to the graveyard."

"Tell me why you wanted my blood." Harry demanded.

"The Dark Lord…wished to use it in a ritual…to regain his…his…body!" the man managed out as he began coughing blood out violently.

Harry ended the Imperius curse on him. _This'll be like putting down a rabid dog, _he thought darkly as he raised his wand. "_AVADA KEDAVRA!"_

A rush of sudden energy filled him as he fired off the spell, focusing the entirety of his intention to put down the rabid dog as a strong green flash of light exited the tip of his wand and hit the man. The man gasped before dropping dead, eyes empty and vacant.

Harry began to breathe heavily as he gripped his wand tightly for several moments. Beads of sweat formed around his eyes, as his hands started to shake uncontrollably.

_What…what was that?_

The sudden rush of magic that filled him felt like a torrent of uncontrollable, chaotic energy, a maelstrom of hate, murder and agony. The sudden emptiness of it was shocking as he fired the spell, the feeling of it within him was toxic…

He shook his head briefly and banished the bodies before turning to Remus and taking a hold of him, pulling him up to take to the Hospital Wing.

-------

"Hello, Harry," Luna greeted as Harry came into the Room of Requirement.

Harry greeted her absentmindedly with a grunt as he flopped into a chair. A bookcase appeared beside him filled with information on the Unforgivable Curses as he grabbed a thick tome and began to leaf through it.

Luna frowned – Harry usually had a better temperament than this. "What's wrong, Harry?"

The wizard slammed the useless tome close with a snap as he clenched his fists tightly, his face pale. "I killed someone yesterday, Luna," he whispered.

There was a momentary pause of silence between them before Luna responded, surprisingly casually for one who just learnt that their best friend killed someone. "Oh, really? How nice."  
"I KILLED SOMEONE, LUNA!" Harry shouted abruptly as he jerked upright in the chair, clutching his wand tightly.

"And?" Luna pressed. "How did you do it?"  
"I used the Killing Curse…" Harry mumbled. "And I've never felt so sick in my life…" a bucket suddenly appeared beside him as he vomited out a sea of putrid green liquid, a mix of what he had today for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Luna was surprisingly indifferent to all of this as she looked at Harry vomiting. "Did you have chips today?"

"Yes!" Harry blurted out as he wiped his mouth with a cloth. "I mean, no! I mean…how can you be so calm about this all?!"  
Luna sighed as a chair appeared beside Harry's and she sat down. "I can be so calm about it all," she began, "because I know there would be a good reason for it. Now tell me…was there?"

Harry gave a half-hearted nod.

"Now," Luna continued in a soft voice. "Would you like to tell me what happened?"

Harry then quickly related back his story of being attacked by Death Eaters. "I took Professor Lupin to the Hospital Wing, and Madame Pomfrey gave him some potions and said he would take a couple of days at the most to wake up."  
"And are you upset that you accidentally hurt him?"

Harry nodded again glumly. "I should've been much smarter! I let my own hate of Death Eaters and what they did at the Quidditch Tournament blind me…"

"But think, Harry – you had no idea who was behind that mask. You saw that a person dressed in the uniform of a dark wizard attacked you, so you responded and incapacitated him. I don't see the problem with that," Luna replied gently.

"But I used two Unforgivables on one of the Death Eaters…"

"You needed to get information out of him quickly, so you did. It worked, didn't it? So now you know Voldemort's plans."

"But I could have just taken him to the Headmaster!"

"You were the one attacked, so you desired a reason for it, and you got one. Voldemort's plans only concern you, not Professor Dumbledore, so there wasn't any reason to see him," Luna said.

"And I killed him…" Harry whispered. "I shot him between the eyes with the killing curse…it was just like I remembered when my parents died. A flash of green…oh Merlin, what would my mum and dad think of me?!" he cried.

"They would think you were humane," Luna responded. "That Death Eater was bleeding to death, you killed him quickly and painlessly to end his suffering."

"But what I felt…the Killing Curse…" Harry paused. "Luna, when I cast the Killing Curse, it was like…all this evil, all this misery, all this negative energy suddenly welled up inside me. It was like some sort of illegal muggle drug, it was toxic, it felt so addictive…then when it exited…" the wizard shuddered. "I don't get it! Spells shouldn't FEEL this way! There's no logical reason for a form of energy to have evil intentions, or cause unwanted emotions!"

Luna thought about this for a moment. "Maybe it's not the magic…but it's the spell."  
Harry looked at her, dumbfounded. "What's the difference?" He asked sheepishly.

"Daddy used to say that a long time ago, even before the time of the Founders, magical people used to use staffs," Luna replied.

Harry frowned. "Staffs?"

"But there was too much difficulty required in making one, so when the wand was introduced, everybody started to use those. There was just no need for the power of a staff."

"What do you mean, power of a staff?"

"A staff amplifies the magic of a person by funneling it down the wood to the focusing gem, while a wand manipulates and channels it through the core," Luna explained, "by wand movements and incantations."

"But what does this have to do with the Dark Arts?" Harry frowned.

"I don't know, I was just trying to take your mind off things," Luna stated earnestly.

"So then what was that about not being the magic, but the spell?" Harry asked, mentally slapping himself in the head.

Luna shrugged. "Just speculation. I suppose we won't know until we know more about the nature of magic a bit more."

"So…it's okay to cast the Unforgivables?" Harry asked stupidly.

"And what do you think is Voldemort's 'current plan'?" Luna asked, throwing the conversation in a completely different direction.

Harry frowned. "Are you trying to take my mind off what happened again?"  
"Yes."

"Then I'm not sure. Although I did see Professor Moody stealing potions supplies that night in the Chamber of Secrets," Harry offered.

"Did he see you?"  
"It was too dark."  
"Well, of course it would be dark, it was night. But he still would have seen you, with his magical eye."  
Harry frowned. "But he didn't!"

Now it was Luna's turn to frown. "Magical eyes have night vision properties. How is that possible?" Suddenly, understanding dawned on her face. "I was reading a book on magical items, and it says that magical eyes recognise the magical signature of the one using it. Each person has a unique magical signature, and it's through each person's signature that the eye draws power. If Moody was an imposter, say, through Polyjuice, his magical signature won't change to that of Moody's. Depending on the signature, the eye will lose some of its functions, not only as a security measure, but the fact the magic isn't being channeled properly into the eye."

There was a long pause between them, before Harry finally spoke. "Then Professor Moody is a Polyjuiced imposter, isn't he? I always see him drinking out of that flask."

"Of course, it could be a Gurgletongue – those creatures are shape-shifters, and love nothing more than to impersonate people."


	7. Chapter 7

"No, Ron, this is all wrong!" Hermione cried exasperatedly as she gave the messy piece of parchment back to the redhead. "If you had just _listened _in Transfiguration, this would be much easier! You…"

"Oh, this isn't good enough for you, is it?" Ron snapped acidly, throwing the essay over his head. Papers of messy and blotchy handwriting went flying everywhere, but Hermione didn't bend to pick them up – she was too much in shock by his tone. "Not like the bloody Boy-Who-Lived Harry Potter? The Tri-Wizard champion that everybody loves? Why does everything good have to happen to HIM?!"

Around them in the Gryffindor Common Room, the students blissfully ignored the two. They were more than used to Ron's frequent and jealous outbursts about Harry Potter.

Ever since the First Task, everybody, except the Slytherins of course and perhaps some of the Hufflepuffs, loved the Fourth Champion. To call it a fan club would be an understatement – Harry Potter could literally get no rest. Whenever he was walking in-between classes, he was followed by a large group of swooning girls. With the approach of the Yule Ball, Harry had carried his Invisibility Cloak frequently – failing that, he utilised the many secret passages of the castle.

It was on one of these occasions during lunch that Harry made a visit to the Hospital Wing to see how an injured former professor was doing

Madam Pomfrey ran out to greet him as he walked into the Hospital Wing. "Oh dear, what is it this time? Broken bones? Internal bleeding? Or…"

"Nothing today ma'am," Harry replied with a smile. "I just came in to see Professor Lupin."

"It's just Remus, Harry," a voice called out weakly from one of the beds.

"I'm sorry, but Mr. Lupin is not able to see any visitors," Pomfrey said sternly, crossing her arms. "You must…"

"It's quite alright; Harry was the one to find me so he is entitled to that right. And besides, I feel fine." The werewolf said from behind the white veil.

The nurse sighed. "Oh, very well." She stepped aside and walked back to her office.

"How are you, professor?" Harry asked warmly as he stepped into the veil, pulled up a chair and sat down.

The old werewolf laughed. "You don't have to call me that, Harry, I'm not your professor anymore."

Harry vaguely remembered whispering his name in the Forbidden Forest in shock, but the older man was unconscious at the time. "I suppose you could call it an acknowledgement of your teaching. I mean, Professor Moody is quite good, but his methods are somewhat questionable. You're probably the best Defense teacher we've had."

Lupin blushed slightly at the praise. "Thank you, Harry. But there's no room at any magical school for a werewolf."

Harry frowned. "But why? You're only dangerous once a month."

"It may not seem logical, but it's just like how purebloods view half-bloods and muggleborns as abominations," Remus sighed. "Many wizards and witches are prejudiced against what they view as dark creatures. I have hardly any income because of it."

A brief flash of anger passed over Harry's face before he heard someone coming in behind him. He immediately smiled. "Professor, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine – Luna Lovegood."

The silver-eyed Ravenclaw walked up beside him and offered out a box. "I made you a special batch of my dragon chocolate treats," she said mistily.

"Hello, Luna," Remus said with a smile as he took the box thankfully, not wanting to be impolite. In truth, he had met the eccentric girl last year in second year DADA. Although many found her unusual, he had immediately become fond of the girl, and found her to be kind and talented in her own uniqueness. The magical world needed more witches like her, and secretly he did quite enjoy reading _the_ _Quibbler_.

"You should try one now, they're really great, honestly," Harry urged. Luna was an excellent cook, but rarely ever charmed her food as she claimed it detracted from the flavor. Harry found that she made incredible desserts.

Remus opened the box and looked in shock to see each dragon treat had been individually sculpted – he could easily recognise each type of dragon. A faint and foul stench started to emanate from the box as he frowned.

"I smeared some garlic juice around the insides of the box," Luna said with a dreamy smile. "So no vampires come near you once you open it."

"That was very thoughtful of you," Remus replied, taken aback. "Although I'm sure that Hogwarts is quite safe."

"They have their ways," Luna said mysteriously.

Remus took an experimental bite of one, and found them to be extremely crispy and delicious as his eyes lit up. A warm feeling started to grow inside him as he chewed on the chocolate. "I can't eat this all. Would you like some?"

Luna shook her head while Harry nodded eagerly and pulled out one of the treats from the box.

He frowned and scrutinised the chocolate Hungarian Horntail thoughtfully. _Well, my luck stretches out into food as well. _The wizard then popped it into his mouth, and grinned. "They're great Luna, you've done it again."

Remus was quite a good reader of people, especially his former students, and he suppressed a smirk as a nearly invisible blush formed on Luna's otherwise impassive face. _Just like James. _Suddenly a thought occurred to him as he wondered, "Harry, where are Ron and Hermione?"

Harry sighed and began to explain how they were now at odds.

The werewolf mulled over all of this briefly before responding. "Harry, although I perfectly empathise with your situation, I refuse to believe that Hermione and Ron can be so…shallow. Don't forget that they followed your lead through the previous years, so are you sure you don't want their friendship?"

"I'm for the better since I stopped being friends with them," Harry replied passionately. "Without them I'm much more able to focus on my schoolwork and…extracurricular activities. I was pretty weak back then and Ron could easily convince me to do useless things – stupid things. And for the adventures, I was a bloody stupid Gryffindor. The three of us were. Even with Hermione we never really thought through it, and I'm happy because I'm finally starting to think before I leap."

"That is a very good point," Remus agreed. "Although Ron I can see befriending you just because of your status, you will find that there are a lot of people out there who will do so as well. Just because you are popular doesn't mean you should push people away like that."

"I'm not 'pushing anyone away'. I mean, I'm much more comfortable with my fame. It's something I'll always be stuck with and have to tolerate, but at least this way I'm getting some peace. There were WAY too many people following me around like love-struck puppies, and I couldn't get any work done for the Tournament."

"But still…" Remus fell silent. "They followed you Harry, through so much, and risked their lives on multiple occasions. Do you not think that is not worthy of some merit?"

Harry sighed. "I know, professor. Don't you think I considered this? But that adds to my argument – they know me, better than anyone else. What reason did they have to abandon me? Because it was what every bloody other person was doing! How can I forgive that, after all we've been through?" Unconsciously he reached out for Luna's hand and held it tightly.

The gesture did not go unnoticed by Lupin, and as he observed, it didn't seem that Luan was in the least bit perturbed. Not that she was an emotional girl, but the motion looked natural. She didn't even need to look down to see it; it was almost like she sensed the motion and took it in stride. The interactions between them were intriguing, to say the least, and they were incredibly intimate and close for only being friends for such a short time.

"And besides," Harry added, "Neither of them likes Luna very much. Heck, nobody likes Luna. Wherever I go, Luna goes," he finished sternly. "And if anyone has trouble with it, they can sod off."

Remus nodded in understanding as a small grin appeared on his face. This whole situation reminded him of the traitorous rat's initial suspicion at Sirius when the three first met together. Just because he came from a dark family, after all, didn't mean he was dark. It was the same here – appearances could be deceiving. "I know what you mean, Harry. But shouldn't you give Hermione a chance, at least? She's too intelligent to make assumptions based on common stereotypes."

"She relies too much on books," Harry replied, "plus she puts her trust automatically in authority. If Snape told her that jumping off a cliff would unlock her Animagus transformation, she'd do it without thinking."

"But can you _blame _her Harry?" Remus pressed. "In many respects, she's like me, and was probably raised to trust in those with positions of authority – that includes authors of mostly any kind of books. With you two, she'll be able to broaden her view. With Ron, however…"

"It'll be hell," Harry finished grimly. "Alright then, I see your point. Luna?"

"As long as she doesn't have any gibblywacks," Luna replied mistily.

Harry nodded, as if that were a perfectly normal compromise. "That's understandable. But she has to come to me, okay? I'm not going to go up to her and beg for forgiveness, because all I'm going to get is another bloody lecture."

"That's reasonable," Luna said, finding the roof extremely fascinating. "I do hope she's not weird."

"Anyway, how did those Death Eaters find you?" Harry asked with a frown.

Remus sighed as he tried to think. "Well they essentially walked up to my apartment and knocked on the door. As I answered it, they stunned me."

Harry blinked. "Well, nobody said that Death Eaters were subtle."

Luna smiled dreamily. "At least they knocked."

"Are you going to be staying at Hogwarts then?" Harry asked.

"I suppose there's nowhere else I can go," Remus chuckled, "so yes I will be staying here for the moment. Although as you can see…" he gestured to his bandaged wounds, "I'm rather stuck here, but I will try to make it to your Second and Third tasks. Has Snuffles…" Remus surreptitiously glanced at Luna, "suggested anything?"  
"Only that Voldemort had a hand in it," Harry replied, "but the fact he attacked you means that he's getting impatient. Either way, there's nothing I can do about it now, except work hard and hope to get through this."

-------

As the days to the Yule Ball ticked down, many students began to grow more anxious and distracted, a fact that became more painfully obvious by the amount of students pouring into the Hospital Wing from clumsy spellwork, errors, or most frequently accidently tipping in a Potions ingredient they weren't supposed to. If the House Cup system was still in effect, Snape would have had one of his nastiest years, in terms of points.

At Professor McGonagall's suggestion, Harry had taken all of his measurements using a magical tape-measurer, and had sent it off to a tailor that Snape begrudgingly recommended.

In fact, the relationship between Harry and Snape – _Professor_ Snape had improved tremendously since they first started sword fighting lessons. The young wizard had proven himself an adept swordsman as he continually applied to the art, and it seemed to Harry that Snape was possibly impressed by his progress, even though he wouldn't show it. The Potions Professor had all but ignored him in the Potions classroom, for as long as Harry kept making half-decent potions. Surprisingly enough, Harry's potions began to improve also. There was a tense and grudging respect between the two – Harry had respect for his considerable swordsmanship and Potion-making, and Snape because the "dunderhead" was completely unlike his moronic father, instead taking more after his mother. Once in a blue moon Harry would ask the Professor's advice, and Snape would answer bluntly. A good tailor was one of them.

"Chivalry," Harry announced to the Fat Lady as the portrait nodded and slid open.

As he stepped in, several bored glances turned to stares. Hushed whispers started to sound as the entirety of the Gryffindor Common Room stared at him reverently.

Harry mentally sighed, so he froze a dragon, big deal. Schooling his face into an imitation of Snape, he demanded coldly, "what?"

Quicker than the blink of an eye everybody turned around and resumed their activities – although Weasley continued to stare at him loathsomely…this was expected, and as long as he didn't try anything he wouldn't have to go into the Hospital Wing.

He walked up to his bed in the Boys' Dormitory, and cast the counter charms to the locking spells he had placed on his trunk. Harry didn't think it was above Ron for him to go rummaging in his trunk for the Invisibility Cloak or the Marauder's Map – while both were safely with him, he locked his trunk with several obscure charms, just in case.

Harry pulled out several books which he had acquired from a beggar trying to make a Galleon in Hogsmeade. There were surprisingly a lot of homeless people in Hogsmeade, but they tended to stay off the main streets. Harry, being the curious wizard he was, had explored every side alley and street of the village – and surprisingly enough, these books were quite valuable. At the right store, the poor wizard could've made a bigger profit. Ah well.

He slipped them into his bag, slung it around his shoulder and began to leave – the less time he spent here, the better.

"RONALD WEASLEY!" A familiar female voice screeched.

Harry grinned as he slipped into the background unnoticed. It was unfortunate that conjuring food was very advanced magic, as he could really use some popcorn.

Ron gave off a strangled whimper as Hermione stormed into the Common Room, bushy hair a wild mess. Her eyes were puffy and red, probably from crying, and although the witch usually kept her parchments and books together neatly and alphabetically as she carried them around, many of the parchments were crumpled, ink spilled everywhere. Her entire outfit was disheveled, and the order of her books was messed up.

Hermione didn't even seem to care as she tossed the books to one side – and completely befuddled Harry. What had Ron done this time? This was new, even for her.

Ron however seemed completely oblivious to her maelstrom of fury – he was glaring at her. After all, he was used to it. "What now? Are you angry I got a 'Dreadful', even though you refused to help me?"

"You…You…" Hermione's breathing was erratic and heavy. Her face was quickly becoming flustered and red, and her hands were curled into fists, shaking madly with rage.

Yes indeed, Hurricane Hermione was about to roll across an unsuspecting redhead. Harry quickly suppressed a grin – now this was entertainment!

"Just because we're not all bloody Know-it-alls doesn't give you the right to look down at us normal folk!" Ron snapped acidly.

"I heard you talked to Viktor Krum," Hermione seethed.

Whoa. It must have been serious if Hermione ignored a low blow like that and went straight to the issue. And what was this about the Quidditch Pro…?

"Yeah, and so?" Ron huffed.

"How…how could you…?!" The muggleborn hissed. "Of all the inconsiderate things you could have done…"

"So I told him you were going with me, big deal," Ron replied indifferently. "I mean, you are a girl, after all."

"And you only just noticed that, did you?" Hermione replied with venom in her tone. "Oh yes, did I also mention that you gave Krum a black eye and told him to 'stay away from me'?"

Ron shrunk under her intense gaze. "Um…heh…"

Harry blinked – that was low. Even for Ron.

The next outburst would soon cement Ron's status in the 'jealous loser' category of not just the Gryffindor, but the Hogwarts students' hierarchy. "Well…at least I'm not trying to _whore _myself out to celebrities!" Ron growled.

Silence.

Complete silence. All eyes were on the argument. Several students had their mouths wide open. They argued plenty in the past, but this was _it._ Granted, they didn't know what _it_ was, but they knew that_ it_ was extremely important.

Tears started to form around her eyes as she stepped back in horror and shock. Of all the things Ron could call her…

She whirled around and began crying as she ran out.

Harry gave off a feral growl. As Ron was about to give off a snort, he slugged him with a heavy blow to the nose. The redhead gasped, as he stumbled back and crumpled to the ground. Harry's improved physique meant that punch would have really, really hurt.

Without looking back, he ran out of the Common Room after Hermione.

Hermione didn't even look back as she ran off, thoughts furiously racing through her head: _Oh Merlin, why? Why did I think that he could change? Why did I stay with him instead of staying with Harry?_

Without thinking, she stumbled into the Girl's Lavatory, breathing heavily as she walked across and grabbed a whole bunch of tissue paper. Thankfully Moaning Myrtle wasn't here, at the very least.

Harry ran in after her. "Hey Hermione," he said.

Hermione whirled around in shock. "Harry…" she gasped, before turning around quickly, wiping her eyes and straightening her robes.

Harry was bemused by her reaction. _Girls are weird. Except for Luna. _"Don't worry about your appearance, Hermione. I was in the Common Room when you two were arguing."

The bookworm hiccupped. "Oh, were you?"

"Yes," Harry said bluntly.

There was an awkward silence between them, before Hermione said, "You're better at classroom work. You've beaten me at Transfiguration, Defense, Charms, and nearly Potions…"

Harry chuckled. "Are you jealous?"

Hermione blinked. "Well…I suppose I should be…" she trailed off.

The dark-haired wizard was surprised – knowing Hermione, she'd get incredibly annoyed that she wasn't number one anymore. She always had her hand up in class, but that was because Harry never bothered to answer questions unless directly asked.

"That's because it was always 'your realm'," Harry stated. "It was always, if you didn't know something, ask Hermione. I would feel pretty bad if someone took my spot on the Gryffindor Quidditch team," he added.

Hermione laughed. "Well maybe the old Hermione would…"

"Old Hermione?"

"Let's just say that, since you left, I've had to do a lot of growing up." Hermione sighed. "I didn't know what I saw in Ron. He really is just a – a bloody git!" she snapped.

"Glad you saw right through him," Harry smirked briefly before his face seemed to age several years. "Guess you've finally realised that they're just kids…"

Hermione became silent as she pondered his words, before replying. "But they're still in our year…"

"But that doesn't necessarily mean they're on our level," Harry stated.

At first, Hermione thought that he was being cocky, before realising the truth of his words. Aside from a few, the Gryffindors had generally the lowest scores out of all the Houses in the school. His confidence wasn't overconfidence; rather, it was a quiet confidence in his own abilities and acceptance of himself as a wizard. Hermione also noted that his scar, which Harry used to hide, was now displayed prominently on his forehead. And his normally long and messy hair had been cut into a neater and much more efficient military hairstyle that on Harry's head looked even more stylish than his old hairstyle. And was he taller and more…filled out?

"You shouldn't look down on other people like that, Harry," Hermione replied weakly, not even believing in her own words. Everybody 'normal' hated people like her for being better or smarter. Why bother trying to befriend them when all she did was stand out like a sore thumb?

"There's someone I'd like you to meet," Harry said as he regained his warm composure.

Hermione blinked. _You've changed a lot, haven't you, Harry? _Although she used to be able to know exactly what was going on in her friend – former friend's head, it was almost impossible to now. His face seemed to switch from one expression to another seamlessly, and although his stance was open and warm, his face was impassive and cool, as if he didn't care about a thing in the world. "Who?"

"Oh, she's a very good friend of mine," Harry said absentmindedly. "You'll like her – you'll like her a lot."

"Luna Lovegood?"

"Gee, like that wasn't obvious," Harry remarked. "I thought you would get it at 'there's someone I'd like you to meet', considering Luna and you have never officially met."

Hermione hesitantly took a breath. She had heard a lot of…weird things about Lovegood, and wasn't quite sure that…

"You accept Luna, or we both part here and now and never see each other again," Harry stated bluntly. "And besides…" his face was engulfed by a goofy smirk. "She can teach you a lot."

Hermione blinked. "Really?"

"Trust me," Harry grinned, making himself as charming as possible. "As long as you don't get on her – or my – bad side, you can learn more from Luna than you can learn from a year's worth of reading."

"Well I suppose that…one meeting wouldn't hurt," Hermione said after a moment's pause.

"Great! LUNA!"

Hermione blinked once more as Luna stepped into the bathroom from outside. Did they arrange…?

"Hello," Luna said in her usual dreamy voice as she raised her hand. "Luna Lovegood, friend of Harry and journalist for the _Quibbler._

"Um, hi," Hermione took her hand, and then confidently replied the same way. "Hermione Granger, resident know-it-all and former friend of Harry."

Luna smiled mysteriously. "I can see we're going to get along just fine. By the way, I'm happy that all the Bobbideedoops have left you."

"Bobbideedoops?" Hermione frowned. "There's no…"

"It's in the _Quibbler_, issue five," Harry interrupted. "They're small, insect-like creatures that while being frightfully intelligent in the wild usually follow Crumple-Horned Snorkacks around the whole day. They clean them and go ahead to see the path is clear – even with all their intelligence and dedication, the lazy Crumple-Horned Snorkack does not even acknowledge their efforts – most of the time they attack them just for fun."

Hermione's eyes started to get misty at this explanation. Before she could cry, she was shocked as Luna pressed forward and hugged her tightly – a hug which Hermione eventually returned awkwardly. She was in for an even further shock when Luna kissed on her on the cheek and whispered softly into her ear: "You're very pretty."

When Luna withdrew, although Hermione's eyes were still misty there was a smile and a blush on her face. "Thank you," she whispered.

-------

A/N: Easy question – if any of you know why Luna did that, I'll think you're cool. I might even throw in a really cool plotline if a lot get it exactly right! If no one knows, I'll tell you next chapter.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: To answer reviews, NO, it's not a Harry/Luna/Hermione ship. It is purely Harry/Luna. Some of you got it, but more reviewers probably thought that Luna was bi – she kissed her on the CHEEK, not the MOUTH. I know girls who kiss each other on the cheek as a sign of friendship. Luna did it because she has self-esteem and self-image issues – aside from her books, she's not pretty nor socially outgoing, meaning that she is logically, a rather bland character. Luna did that, and complimented her, to say, "Yes, you are a pretty girl, and not just a guy friend", in order for her to feel better about herself. To dispel all doubts, again, it is ONLY a Harry/Luna. I firmly believe they belong together.

-------

It was now the day of the Yule Ball. The tension could be felt in the swelteringly hot day, a tension that was felt by all students that would be attending.

One such student was Harry Potter as he stared out of the window towards the vast Forbidden Forest. Despite the humid weather and the anxiety of the day, Harry felt quite relaxed, as he usually did. Although his muscles were a little sore and worn out, it was nothing that he couldn't handle and nothing that zoning out in History of Magic couldn't fix.

Weasley had got suspended for that little stunt – suspended! Although Harry wasn't surprised. With the school's image on the line, and the relationship between the three schools already tense, this had to be dealt with harshly. Add to that the pressure from Headmaster Karkaroff, who always favoured Krum, and the teenager's public image as a Quidditch star. It would be safer for Weasley to stay home, as the public outcry would have been enormous. It would be in every single media outlet, and strain the relationship between Bulgaria and the English.

Probably the reason why Krum let him punch him without a reply – he knew that the redhead was royally screwed.

As the ghost droned on, Harry lazily stretched out on the desk. It was good to have Hermione back as a friend. He could remember the first time that he had shown her the Room of Requirement, not too long ago, she had gaped like a giant fish. After all, a room that suited itself to your every need was pretty amazing, right? She as of yet did not know about his frequent forays into the Chamber of Secrets, and didn't need to. It would bring back bad memories of Second Year, although Harry had gotten over it a long time ago.

On the subject of Hermione, how she talked with Luna in their first study session in Room was amusing. It all stared off with one offhanded comment from Luna about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, before a skeptic's reply from Hermione, which then erupted into a full-blown argument. Although amusing, it severely cut into their study time, and Harry had to quickly step in and told Hermione to just accept it and move on. Hermione did so crossly.

Harry laid his head on the table, and prepared to go to sleep.

A dull rumbling stopped him as his eyes widened and he straightened.

The rumbling turned into a violent shaking as Harry's untouched parchments and quills began to quiver rapidly. He quickly grabbed them and shoved them into his bag.

"EARTHQUAKE!" Someone screamed before diving under his desk.

Harry mimicked him, diving under the desk. Soon, every student followed their actions and dived under the desk as the violent earthquake thundered through the school, the rumbling drowning out the drone of Professor Binn's words, as he seemed to be completely oblivious that someone had screamed or that there was an earthquake happening.

Then suddenly, the earthquake passed as quickly as it came.

Harry frowned as he got up and dusted himself off. _Isn't it impossible for earthquakes to happen at Hogwarts?_

-------

"It's impossible for earthquakes to happen at Hogwarts!" Hermione said briskly as they sat comfortably in the Room of Requirement. "It says so in page 126 of _Hogwarts: a History_! The wards built should have repelled any physical attack of any kind, above OR below ground! In all it's time, Hogwarts has never had an earthquake! Our location isn't even near any major fault lines!"

Harry frowned. "Maybe the earthquake wasn't caused by tectonic activity. Do we know any spells or magical items that could cause an earthquake?"

Hermione shook her head. "That's impossible. Even if that were true, the item or spell would have had to originate from inside the castle. And considering the shock was felt by _everyone _in the school, it would need to have immense magical power! No single person could cast a spell that powerful, or enchant an object with such properties!"

"Nothing's impossible with magic," Harry replied, "and logically speaking, there's no other reason for it."

Luna, however, was sitting there with a strange look on her face, like a cross between a look of bewilderment and a frown.

Harry noticed it immediately. "Luna?"

Luna's face retracted into its usual dreamy expression as she muttered, "No, that's absurd." She looked up and shook her head. "I don't have any idea, Harry."

The three shifted uneasily in their seats, and that was an oddity for Luna. None of them liked the idea of this earthquake, or the idea they had no clue as to where it came from and how it came about.

"It's a bad omen," Harry murmured softly. "A very bad omen." Aloud, he said, "Well I think we shouldn't consider this a priority, seeing as we have no idea how it occurred. Things seem to keep getting weirder and weirder around this school, and I don't want to add another mystery onto a whole heap of others. We'll keep it in the back of our minds, but don't go actively pursuing it. If what Hermione said was right, then we'll only end up chasing shadows."

Luna's unchanged expression meant that she agreed, but Hermione's restlessness told him that she was going to research it regardless. If she wanted to waste her time, that was her call, but Harry knew definitely that this was one mystery they wouldn't solve anytime soon.

-------

As Harry bade goodbye to Luna and Hermione to prepare to go to Divination, he was suddenly intercepted in the corridor by Professor Moody.

"How've you been holding up, Potter?" he grunted as he grabbed his arm rather aggressively and turned him towards his scarred face.

"I'm fine, thank you, sir," Harry replied coolly. He had to play his cards perfectly.

"Are you worried about the Second Task?" Moody asked, scrutinizing him with his magical eye.

"Not at all, sir," Harry said.

"You solved the riddle?"

"It wasn't that hard, sir," Harry said earnestly. "I'm ready."

"Are you sure, Potter?" Moody growled. "Not too overconfident?"

Harry frowned. "Why are you so eager to help me, sir? It isn't because I'm too young, is it?"

"O-Of course it is, Potter." Moody barely managed to conceal his shock. "You're at a disadvantage!"

"But you've taught me quite a lot, sir." Harry replied. "I mean, all the powerful spells you've taught me are going to help against _any _foe…or obstacle, right?"

"That's right, Potter," Moody said rapidly. "I've got a class starting soon, and you'd better get to your own," he snapped before lumbering quickly away.

Harry looked at Moody's retreating form amusedly. _Inadvertently helping me against his master without even realising it. _Harry had long since been suspicious of Moody, and now believed the imposter to be behind reporting his progress to Voldemort. He was above any help that Moody could give him, thanks to the imposter, and he wanted to make sure that the Death Eater knew that he had helped him too much.

So lost in his own thoughts, he didn't look where he was going and as he turned a corner he came crashing into another girl, sending her books sprawling everywhere.

"Oh, sorry!" Harry blurted out immediately, only to realise that the girl she bumped into…was none other than Cho Chang.

"It's alright, Harry," Cho replied as she bent down to begin picking her belongings up.

Harry quickly bent down also and began to help her gather her things up, also engaging with her in polite conversation. "So, I heard that you're going with Cedric to the Yule Ball."

"…Yes, that's right," Cho said with some initial confusion. Although she hadn't seen Harry in a while now, the last time she did he had been staring at her half the time. This time, it was like that crush never existed. "Is there a problem?"

"Depends on what you define as a 'problem'," Harry joked as he picked up her final book and gave it back to her. "Has Cedric mentioned the Second Task at all?"

"No…not really," Cho frowned. "Why?"

Harry's gaze turned serious. "I think you'd better ask him tonight. Anyway, see you around, Cho!"

"Yeah…see you, Harry."

-------

The day passed quicker than Harry expected, and before long, it was his final lesson of the afternoon, Potions.

"Today, we will be working on a Potion of a most delicate nature," Snape began as he paced back and forth at the front of the classroom. "It is a Potion that most incompetents will get incorrect – some, perhaps," his gaze turned briefly to Neville, who shrunk under his gaze, "will fail…miserably. It is a complex Potion that is called the Elixir of Renewal, and is extremely rare to find in large quantities. Potter! What are the properties of this Potion?"

Harry narrowed his eyes as he quickly recalled the information. "…It's used for medical purposes. If timed correctly, the Potion can bring a person back from the dead if they haven't been dead for more than two minutes."

"Indeed. Do keep in mind that many of these ingredients are much more expensive than the rest. If any turn out to be successful, which is highly unlikely…" Snape drawled as his gaze passed over most of the Gryffindors, "then they will be sold to St. Mungo's." He waved his wand over the board as instructions appeared. "You will do this in groups of two – begin!"

Harry looked over the instructions carefully, filing them away in his mind clearly, using his Occlumency. He then stood up and looked over to Hermione. "Shall we?"

"Of course," Hermione said with excitement. Harry wasn't surprised; this Potion was not on the school course and was certainly valuable.

The brewing process was certainly smoother than Harry thought, although there were still some 'bumps'. Hermione in her excitement had nearly added an extra slice of Vampire's Flesh, an ingredient, which Harry noted, was extremely expensive. Thankfully he had managed to swipe it out of her hands just as she was about to tip it into the potion.

The second and last incident was when Malfoy was moving past them. He brushed quite close to the cauldron, and sharply sent a small nudge.

Thankfully Harry had seen the Slytherin come in easily – gelled blonde hair wasn't that hard to notice after all. He grabbed the edge of the cauldron to keep it stable and didn't even bother to acknowledge him as Malfoy sent him a glare. Capricious pricks like Malfoy weren't worth his time.

After that, it was perfectly fine. Although the Potion turned out a little pale blue at first, Harry stirred it a little more and sprinkled some more of another ingredient and it turned dark blue, as it should have.

Very few others managed to get the Potion right, although thankfully there were no accidents. Harry guessed it was because the combination of Potions ingredients weren't reactive enough.

After Snape passed them, barely nodding his head in disgruntled satisfaction of their work, and grading all the other Potions, the students began to leave as they were dismissed, rather quickly as tonight was the Yule Ball, after all.

"Harry, are you coming?" Hermione asked with a frown as she began to walk out, but the boy wizard was still in the classroom.

"I'll come out in a moment, Hermione." Harry replied. "I'm not seeing Luna till the Yule Ball, and I know that you're going to be a while. So you go on without me, and we'll catch up at the Ball."

"Alright, Harry – see you later!" Hermione flashed him a smile as she left.

Harry returned the smile, knowing how excited she was by the Ball. Hermione had apologized a day ago for Ron's behaviour to Krum, and thankfully the apology was accepted and Hermione was invited – properly – to the Ball. Needless to say she was ecstatic.

Back to the task at hand, Harry approached Professor Snape as he was stacking up the vials of Potion for transport. "Professor?"

"Potter?" Snape didn't turn to acknowledge him as he was busy putting away the Potions and the ingredients.

Harry wasn't put off by his coldness. He was rather used to it. "Professor, why did we do the Elixir of Renewal today? Most of the ingredients are extremely expensive – not to mention rare…"

Snape drew up to his full height and turned to meet Harry's gaze. "I am not at liberty to say, Potter." With that he ignored him once again and walked into his office.

Harry frowned as he came out. _Not at liberty to say? What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean? _He had a feeling that they were not going to be sold to St. Mungo's… so where else were they going? He cursed himself for not bothering to learn Legilimency.

Regardless he mentally filed it away and decided not to think anymore of it this night – he had a dance to get ready for.

-------

The afternoon went by in a haze. Harry had received his tailored suit a day ago, and although he was looking forward to putting it on, he was currently in the library leafing through a book. The Second Task was on after the Yule Ball, and although Luna and he had come up with a good plan, every good plan had their flaws.

What was the Headmaster thinking?! An adult dragon was one thing, but kidnapping students was something else. It was utterly ridiculous to endanger students like that.

It would be obvious who it was – Luna. She thought it would be a good idea to check the lake for Achnrax infestations at the same time. Whatever happened, Harry was determined to make sure that Luna and he came out of this alive.

As time ticked down, Harry made his way back to the Gryffindor Common Room and began to get dressed into his suit.

Harry despised dress robes – he thought they were the ugliest looking thing in the world. So instead, he had decided to dress in a more modern muggle design he had suggested to the tailor.

He was dressed in a pure black suit that was comprised of a specially-made jacket that was similar to a normal dinner jacket, except it was a little longer and in places represented a formal military uniform. He wasn't wearing a bowtie – instead adorned on his collar were two sparkling Gryffindor lions. The Potter Family crest was emblazoned across his arms, and to top it off, he had managed to get hold of a ceremonial sword, which was sheathed and attached to a strap which he slung around his shoulders and gripped by his side with his left hand.

As he finished dressing, slipping his wand into a holster up his sleeve he had made, he surveyed himself briefly, before nodding in approval and walking down into the Common Room to wait for Hermione.

As he stepped down the stairs, he was amused slightly to see the hustle and bustle in the Boys' Dormitory. It seemed many boys were trying to look perfect for their dates, and many were stuffing vials of Contraceptive Potion into their pockets. Disgusting, especially at this time in their lives. Many didn't even bother to look up at him as he passed.

Quite a few of the girls however were done and waiting for their dates in the Common Room. As he came down, many glanced up in impatience, but ended up gawking in shock or blushing furiously.

Harry ignored most of them as he looked around for Hermione. But not seeing her anywhere, he decided to stand in the corner and wait – they still had plenty of time.

A minute passed, and Harry could still feel numerous stares on his body. Some weren't even bothering to hide it. A few boys were finished, and simultaneous gasps of "blimey" and "bloody hell" could be heard.

At that moment, a younger female student came up to talk to him. "Hello, Harry," she purred.

Harry blinked, and decided not to be rude. "Hello. And you might be?"

"Romilda…Romilda Vane." She fluttered her eyelashes cattily and pushed herself a little closer…too close for his taste. "Like what you see?"  
"Pardon?" Harry frowned.

"Never mind. You know, it's not too late to change partners for the Yule Ball," she said coyly, "I'm sure you'd like someone…"  
"Hermione!" Harry called out happily as he brushed past the Third Year to talk to his friend. "You look stunning."

Dressed in a pale green dress, and with makeup on and her hair done, she blushed slightly at the compliment before looking him over. "You look better. Should we go meet our partners together?"  
"Of course," Harry replied as they both began to walk out. "Wouldn't want you to get mobbed by boys."

"On the contrary, I believe I should be the one protecting you," Hermione beamed as they both left, leaving a stewed Romilda Vane behind.

-------

Harry scanned the Great Hall, marveling at how dramatically different it looked. He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly as he saw several Slytherins give him foul looks. He meet Draco's gaze and nearly stepped back when he mouthed 'You're dead, Potter'.

The boy wizard took this threat seriously – Draco would normally come up and insult Hermione or him. This time it was a simple death threat. That meant that Draco had to mean what he was saying – and from a son whose father was a Death Eater…

"Hello Harry," a familiar, but remarkably clearer voice said.

Harry turned…and gawked.

Luna was dressed in a gorgeous blue dress that hugged her body tightly. Her hair had been done slightly so it was a little curly, although not overtly so. She looked very womanly, and the dress gave her the appearance of being taller. Her eyes, normally looking around, were only focused on Harry. She looked so different, so much more mature… and simply awe-inspiring.

He quickly recollected his thoughts, taking her right hand and kissing it, as dictated by the Etiquette book in the library. "You look beautiful, Luna."

"So do you," Luna said with a smile. This was a side of Luna he had never seen before. This was Luna underneath the mask, Luna underneath what others saw. This was the Luna who truly was Luna Lovegood – a beautiful, wonderful girl. No, not a girl, but a young woman.

Slipping her arm around Harry's, Luna's smile became dreamy and distant as she turned to Hermione. "The Nargles have left you," she said cryptically.

"…Thanks," Hermione said, frowning strangely. She wasn't still used to Luna's cryptic way of speaking, insulting or giving compliments. Her frown turned into a smile as Viktor approached.

After pleasantries were exchanged between the two couples, they then moved to the table to have dinner.

Sitting next to Hermione and Viktor, Harry and Luna were at the centre of most people's attention. Harry's unique suit and sword earned many whispers and stares from girls from Beauxbatons and Hogwarts, First Year to Seventh. Luna earned the glare of many a girl, yet seemed perfectly oblivious to them as she ate.

"You know, the strangest thing happened today," Harry said with a frown as he cut up his steak. "Professor Snape asked us to make the Elixir of Renewal."  
"Really?" Luna asked. "I don't believe that's in the school course."  
"That's what I thought as well. I asked him, but he supposedly 'wasn't at liberty to say'. Elixir of Renewal…the reason seemed suspicious as well – 'to sell to St. Mungo's'. Humph. I hope that doesn't imply they expect us to be clinically dead for two minutes as the Third Task…"

"The Elixir has other, more obscure uses than that," Luna replied. "Its versatility is what makes it such a rare potion."

Harry's frown became deeper. "How would you know that? It wasn't in any of the Potions books I read."

"You need to know where to look," Luna said mysteriously. "The Elixir has two other uses: it can restore the neuropaths of a person's mind – not from insanity, but it results in complete recovery from amnesia, not from magical means though. However it requires one other ingredient: Phoenix tears."

"The Headmaster does have a phoenix," Harry noted. "What's the other use?"  
"It can heal a person from lycanthropy or vampirism, if it's received in two hours," Luna said, chewing a piece of broccoli thoughtfully. "Otherwise the sickness roots itself firmly in the person, and cannot be cured."

"I asked around this afternoon, seems every class from Fourth Year and up was asked to do it," Harry replied. "It does fit in with the story…"  
"…Meaning that's what they want the detectives among us to think," Luna interrupted. "There is also one other reason: the use of the potion for amnesia requires large amounts of the Elixir at timed intervals. The last interval of the Elixir must have an exact dosage of phoenix tears to cause it to fully take effect."

"Over a period of how long?"

"About a week or more, I suppose. It all seems very suspicious to me, whatever use of the Elixir."

"Even the curing of lycanthropy and vampirism?" Harry asked with light amusement.

"It would be interesting to be a vampire or a werewolf," Luna said, throwing the conversation in a different direction. "Don't you think?"

"Both of them have their setbacks," Harry replied, taking a drink of pumpkin juice from his goblet. "Werewolves transform once a month, are miserable the rest of the time, are vulnerable to silver, and vampires can't go out into daylight and are vulnerable to wooden stakes and garlic."

"Yes, but you can't expect it all to be perfect. Well, you are if you're a hybrid."

Harry frowned. "A what?"

"A hybrid. I would call it Were-Vamp, or a Vamp-Wolf, or a Were-ire, but the official term is hybrid."

"A combination of both? Is that possible?"

"Nicholas Flamel theorized it was possible," Luna stated.

"The alchemist who made the Philosopher's Stone?" Oh, that brought back memories. Of how stupid he once was.

"He did a lot of things and wrote a lot of books. He even wrote a book on Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, although it's not as rare as his book on vampires and werewolves and the theory of a hybrid."

"And how would that be possible?" Harry asked. "Don't werewolves and vampires hate each other?"

"So do the illnesses. Flamel tried to combine them magically. He tried to combine them using muggle means, but that worked only for a minute before the sicknesses destroyed each other. But he thought it was always possible for a perfect vampire-werewolf hybrid. A creature, who could theoretically transform at will between human and hybrid, be unaffected by weaknesses of either species, be stronger, faster and smarter than either as well, immortal, and basically undefeatable."

"I don't think we'll be seeing that for a long time," Harry frowned. "At least, I hope not. It'd be worse for the bigoted Ministry, to have a creature that could probably singlehandedly take it over. It'd be an abomination, because it would be too strong."

"But it would be nice, wouldn't it?" Luna said as she finished her dinner.

"I suppose so…"

As the Champions finished their dinner, it was customary for them to give the opening dance.

Harry however was positively nervous. He began fidgeting until Luna tightened her grip on his arm. "You'll be fine, Harry."

The four couples walked onto the dance floor to thunderous applause as well as many cat-calls and girly sighs.

Harry took Luna's hands as the waltz music began. Well, here went nothing…

The crowd looked on in awe as the couples danced smoothly and beautifully on the dance floor – except for Fleur and her date Roger Davies, who couldn't stop drooling at her or staring at her body instead of her face, resulting in a small slap or kick as he was brought to his senses – only to look down again.

The rest of the couples however, had eyes only for each other. For the entire time, the couples were locked eye-to-eye, the chemistry strong and able to be felt in the air.

Harry however was having the time of his life. _This is nice. I suppose I could get used to this, but non-formal is probably better. It doesn't matter either way, only that Luna's with me._

Luna was sharing similar thoughts. _This beats Crumple-Horned Snorkack hunting. Only barely though. I wonder if Harry would like to come along the next time we go Snorkack hunting?_

However Harry was startled out of his reverie as a deep voice shouted _"Reducto!"_

Harry's eyes widened as he grabbed Luna and ducked, whirling around to see a Death Eater-garbed man throw off his Invisibility Cloak and charge at him.

There was barely any time to think as he was already so close. Harry instinctively pushed Luna away then drew his sword, executing a perfect pivot and slash before slamming into the man with his elbow, sword pointing down at him.

Shocked gasps of outrage issued throughout the audience as the adults began to come down.

The Death Eater looked at the pieces of his wand in a daze even as Harry kept the sword up and steady. He raised a shoe and muttered something before disappearing.

Harry lowered his sword, slowly sliding it back into its sheathe when he realised there was no immediate danger.

He was approached by Dumbledore. "Harry, are you…" but he was beat to it as Luna rushed in and grabbed him in a tight hug.

Harry held onto her tightly. No words needed to be said right now, despite the chaos whirling around them.

The Headmaster turned to the audience and magically amplified his voice. "There is no need for panic!" He announced strongly. "Aurors will be dispatched to scour the castle, and reinforcements will come in very soon. The opening dance is finished – let the Yule Ball resume as normal." He turned to the boy wizard. "Harry, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Headmaster," Harry replied evenly. "It's okay now, he's gone. He was only after me."

"Would you like to come into my office?" Dumbledore asked with a frown. "I am sure there is much to discuss."  
"I apologise, Headmaster, but I'm staying here," Harry replied. "I'll come in straight after the Ball, is that alright?"

"As you wish, Harry. Oh yes, I must mention my favorite candy now are Cockroach Clusters," Dumbledore added, although there was no lightness to his tone. He was slightly disappointed, but turned and began to move away.

"Are you alright, Luna?" Harry whispered into her ear as they hugged each other tightly.

"I should be asking you the same thing," Luna replied. "Come on, everybody's looking at us funny."

The couple moved off to the side. The awkwardness was broken as the other Champion couples did so as well. There was a loud cheer, especially from Gryffindor, and people began moving onto the dance floor.

Sitting on the side with Luna, Harry shot glares at any girl who tried to approach him for a dance.

Luna however quickly noticed this. "You know Harry you don't need to sit here the entire time. We can go now if you really want."

"I'm procrastinating," Harry grunted. "I spent a bloody bit of money on this suit, and I'm going to get my money's worth out of it!"

"I suppose that's one way of saying, 'I want to dance with you, Luna'," she said with a wistful smile.

Harry blinked. "Oh...sorry for being rude, Luna. Let's dance, shall we?" He took her hand and led her to the dance floor.

They danced a few songs. It helped to put Harry's mind at ease, as he was still a little jumpy from being attacked. Some of the time he glanced about, constantly alert and waiting, but Luna rectified this by leaning in closer to his body.

After they finished, they moved back to the side once again.

"Are you feeling better now?" Luna asked.

"Yes," Harry said with a small smile. "I feel much better now. Do you mind if I dance with other people, like Hermione?"

Luna smiled. "Not at all, Harry. After all, you are a Tri-Wizard Champion."

Harry began to look around, taking in all the girls who were dancing and those who were sitting. Just because he was fourteen, didn't mean he had no less of an admiration for the female physique – although Luna was first in matters of the opposite sex, it didn't mean he couldn't befriend others, now would it? It would help to have a few more allies, or friends.

He saw the Beauxbatons Champion – Fleur Delacour – sitting on the side. She was chatting away about something, but Roger seemed not to be aware of anything. He was mostly content with drooling over her.

Pulling up his Occlumency shields, he approached the Champion."Bonjour, mademoiselle," he said, taking her hand and kissing it. "Would you honour me with the next dance?"

Fleur, however, threw back her head and laughed. "And why would I want to dance with you, little boy?"

Harry however was unperturbed. "I insist."

Fleur considered the request for a few moments before slowly and reluctantly standing up. "I'll be back in a moment," she said in her thick accent to her ball partner, who was still gawking at her like a fat kid looking at a piece of chocolate.

They must have made a stellar sight. The boy-who-lived and a veela. If Harry hadn't done that ritual, he would be shorter than the silver-haired girl, and that would have been extremely odd.

As they danced, Harry commented dryly, "Enjoying all the attention, are you?"

Fleur didn't even need to look around to notice that most people were staring at both of them. "I could say the same of you," she said coldly.

"Oh yes, because I certainly want to risk my life for a thousand galleons," Harry remarked sarcastically. "I could write a book full of absolute garbage and make twice that amount. Wizards will believe anything."

"Do you make it a rule to talk during dances?" Fleur snapped off in annoyance.

"Do you make it a rule to be constantly rude, or does it come naturally?" Harry retorted. "You didn't seem to be this rude to your date, despite the fact that half the time he was staring at your breasts."

For a moment Fleur unconsciously shifted her arms closer in a subtle attempt to hide her breasts. So she had modesty after all. "He's cute."

"And I thought beautiful girls had standards," Harry replied evenly even as Fleur flushed in indignation, before realising his words.

"So you think I'm 'beautiful', do you?"

"What, do you expect me to say you look like an ugly bitch?" Harry asked even as Fleur wisely shut up. "I mean, the only reason you get all those looks is because of your veela charm. I'm sure less heads would turn if you were without it."

They danced the next few parts of the waltz in silence, before Fleur finally spoke up again. "For a little boy, you certainly have a big mouth."

"Don't forget the sword," Harry remarked sarcastically.

Fleur huffed. "You don't know one end of the sword from the other," she scoffed. "And besides, you Englishmen have no finesse. Any half-decent French swordsman could beat your best."

"Is that a challenge?" Harry asked coolly.

The Beaxbatons Champion laughed again. "You could not beat me. I am the best at my school!"

"That doesn't necessarily mean you're good," Harry pointed out. "It just means everybody else is that bad."

"That's it!" Fleur snapped as she took her hands away from him. "Meet me by the lake, tonight, and we'll see who the better swordsman is!" With that she stormed away.

Harry walked to the side, as if nothing had happened before turning to talk to Luna. "I'm going to talk to Professor Dumbledore – are you going to stay here?"

"Not really," Luna stated. "Although it would be nice to see the Weird Sisters, there are many better bands out there. I believe I'm going to get some sleep and leave myself perfectly vulnerable to be stunned and thrown into the lake where you have to rescue me."

"That's right," Harry laughed. "Goodnight then, Luna."

"Goodnight, Harry," Luna smiled. "I had a wonderful time tonight."  
"So did I," Harry replied as the two got up and left their separate ways.

Deciding not to get changed and keep the Headmaster waiting, Harry headed straight for Dumbledore's office, announcing the password, going up the stairs and inside.

Dumbledore was pacing his office briskly, and looked up to greet him as Harry stepped in.

"Ah Harry, please take a seat." Dumbledore appeared very serious as the two of them sat down, although that did not stop him from offering a lemon drop.

"Professor, what do you think of this attack?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore appeared thoughtful for a moment. "I believe, Harry, that this attack was attempted after the failure of the first. There are many dark rituals which could restore Voldemort to full power, but there is one key ingredient."

"Me." Harry stated grimly.

"More precisely, I believe Voldemort wants your blood," Dumbledore replied. "The blood of a wizard possesses great magical power – furthermore, Voldemort may want it as your mother's protection flows through your blood. By gaining your blood, he will not be at a disadvantage as he was when he first attacked you."

"In seriousness, professor, I don't think that Voldemort was behind these two attacks," Harry said earnestly.

Dumbledore appeared surprised. "Why do you think that, Harry?"

"These attacks seemed to be more spur of the moment things. Voldemort, from what I've made of him, plans more thoroughly, and he was in Slytherin after all. I think it's possible that his followers are acting independently as Voldemort probably isn't around to give direct orders – in whatever form he is now, it's weakened, and it would be stupid for him to show weakness to his followers."

"Yes…that makes more sense," Dumbledore said meditatively, stroking his beard. "But that would mean that there would be someone who is feeding the Death Eaters information, giving them all they need to plan out these attacks."

"Whoever's doing it is acting quietly, because they want to capture me," Harry replied. "And there are plenty of suspects although I don't want to point any fingers."  
Dumbledore was pleased by this statement. "That's very good, Harry. A year ago you would have automatically assumed Professor Snape or Headmaster Karkaroff was behind this."

Harry smiled mysteriously. "Appearances aren't everything." And the more Harry learnt the truer he found that statement to be.


	9. Chapter 9

Harry found Fleur sitting patiently on a rock by the lake, as promised. He had switched from his suit to a much more comfortable and practical outfit, a dark t-shirt and jeans, and was carrying his sword.

Although for safety purposes Snape and he fought with training blades, Harry had decided to get his own sword. The training blades were lighter than the real thing as they used inferior metals, whilst a real blade used stronger metals to ensure quality. This sword was a cheapie, meaning that whilst it served its purpose well, it was not charmed to be unbreakable nor had any additional charms to keep it maintained over a long period of time. It was more of an item to keep around, just in case, than a permanent weapon… it probably would, if Harry mastered the art quickly enough.

As Harry approached her, Fleur stood up, sighing. "Finally! I thought that you had decided on the smarter option of not showing up at all," she sounded extremely smug, and the smugness practically oozed through her thick French accent.

It was a warm night. An earthquake wasn't the only odd thing that was happening. The weather patterns were extremely unpredictable. Even when it should have been cold, the day was humid and hot, like a summer's day. The weather would change almost a minute later, perhaps to rain or fog before snowing. Harry had briefly wondered if magic had a hand in all of this – and if it did, what kind of magic could cause this much interference in such a magically saturated place?

Harry approached her, sword in hand and wand in its holster up his right sleeve. He glanced briefly at her sword. It was much finer and thinner than Harry's broader blade. Fleur probably was not kidding when she was talking about finesse. The sword was designed to be light and quick, each motion fluid and smooth. "Let's not waste words," Harry said curtly as he readied himself.

Fleur's expression turned from smugness into readiness as she saluted him with a slash in the air and started with an open, one-handed sword form, in contrast to Harry's much more narrow and guarded form.

The boy wizard calmed himself, drawing up his Occlumency shields strongly to help ward off any stray thought. He had to be ready, he had to be quick and he had to be alert. This was his first opponent aside from Snape, and it was time to put his skills to the test.

Harry dropped his sword slightly as an attempted feint before lashing out in a quick thrust that caught Fleur like surprise before she parried it and elegantly moved to one side, spinning and attacking with quick stabs and slices, swords clashing violently with dull but resonating clangs.

Fleur was shocked by his relentless assault as she twirled, spun, parried and attacked. The boy was brutal, there was no doubt about that, and it seemed highly unlikely he had ever been taught sword etiquette. Although frenzied, his movements were not like that of a wild animal. There was still control and deliberation, each slash, thrust and cut meaningful and executed with intent. His style was unpredictable and a mystery, as it was quite jerky and made up of a broken rhythm. Many swordsmen she had fought for her title in her school fought in one continuous rhythm of attack, but his rhythm was disjointed. He chained moves together, but rarely after two or three before switching to do something completely different. It infuriated her to no end!

Harry however was having a hell of a time. Fleur was right about one thing – her swordsmanship was completely different to anything he had heard about. She was light on her feet, twirling and spinning like a ballerina, and each move simultaneously connected to each other to create one full motion. It was complicated and intricate, like a musical prodigy's symphony. He was truly amazed, as she made it look like dancing.

Suddenly the spell was broken as Harry saw an opening. He rushed in quickly, surprising Fleur as sword-fighting was not done at such close quarters. Batting away her sword with one might swing, he clubbed her sword-arm with his elbow, causing her to drop her weapon and shifted his weight as he leaned in and pushed her, spinning in one motion as she fell to aim his sword at her face. "Dead," he said simply.

Fleur was still reeling from that dirty move he pulled on her. Her pride was severely wounded – some of the best swordsmen in France could not beat her! And this little boy did so by pulling off some cheap trick!

Ignoring protocol and the way she had been raised, Fleur raised her foot up and kicked him in the balls.

Harry gave off a low growl as he stumbled back, still managing to grip his sword tightly as the sharp pain spread throughout his nether regions. It was a better reaction than one could expect for a boy his age – most would have screamed girlishly and writhed about on the ground in pain. He kept a tight grip on his Occlumency, using it to block out some of the pain signals being sent to his brain and although it still hurt like hell, it didn't hurt as much as it would.

By the time he had recomposed himself, Fleur had already gone back and was too far for him to catch up to.

Harry sat down, sword in his lap. "Bitch."

-------

The night passed quickly and uneasily. The weather had changed once again, but this time to what it was supposed to be at this time of the year. It was significantly colder, although not snowing nor raining, rather the sky was overcast. There was a crystal, icy clarity to the air.

Most of these things would not have been noticed by most wizards, but most wizards did not slay a Dark Lord at one.

Harry Potter was taking a walk around the grounds early in the morning, passing by the lake as he looked around for one specific plant…

There it was. Bending down, Harry reached into the bushes and plucked out a slimy green...thing.

Luna had told him gillyweed could easily be found growing around the lake. Professor Snape came down once a month to replace his stores of the plant, as it was a useful magical substance with interesting properties, properties that were easily exploited in potions.

Taking a plastic bag, he put the gillyweed into it and slipped it into his pocket. It was going to be very cold in the lake. The overcast weather probably meant the sun couldn't warm up the water, and however stupid Harry was, he would not like to catch hypothermia. It was just a safety precaution; preferably he didn't want to touch the water at all.

Going back up to the castle, Harry resolved to get some extra sleep. He was a little tired from last night and getting up this early in the morning didn't exactly help. Hermione and Luna were being used for the Second Task…

His expression darkened as he thought of it. No way in hell would he lose either of them to mer-people. If he did, he would personally dive down there and kill as many of them as he could to rescue them.

-------

Dressed in an old set of clothes charmed to be water-resistant, Harry was now with the other three Champions waiting out by the lake. Students were gathered all around the lake, and it felt a bit odd for Harry to see the grounds so crowded. Usually they were peaceful and quiet, but with the hustling of the students, the atmosphere of the place which Harry frequently enjoyed visiting was disturbed. It made Harry shift uncomfortably.

Ludo Bagman raised his wand to his throat, casting the voice amplification charm. "Welcome all to the Second Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament!" Bagman announced with a huge grin to the cheering spectators. "In this Task, the Champions must dive deep into the lake to rescue that which is most dear to them!"

Harry glanced over to the other Champions, who mostly seemed a little uneasy. They were probably nervous about the ominous message in the egg, and to be honest, so was Harry. But he could not, and would not, fail. Krum's likelihood of success was good, so he wouldn't worry about Hermione. He could place all his focus on Luna.

He could feel Fleur occasionally shooting venomous glares at him. The boy wizard thought that it was he who should be in a foul mood – she did kick him in the balls after all, in an attempt to make up for her defeat.

Harry's grip on his wand tightened as Bagman finished explaining the rules of the Task, before raising his wand into the air. "Ready…GO!"

As the sparks flew out of his wand, Harry turned his attention on the trial ahead as he stepped into the water. He drew his wand, focusing his mind as he softly chanted a long incantation then dived under the water.

The first feeling he got as he dove underneath was the shock of the coldness. Harry had once heard that many people could die from swimming in icy waters simply because of the shock of the cold, but immediately the feeling subsided as the spell took effect. He could feel a heavy energy begin to push out of his body as a silvery bubble surrounded his entire body, molding to his form. He straightened and began to swim, the motions effortless as the water was frictionless against this bubble. His movements were also accelerated by the natural spinning motion of the bubble.

As the water was murky, Harry cast a powerful _Lumos _charm to help him see, and began diving deeper.

The lake wasn't particularly deep or as deep as Harry thought it might have been. He rapidly approached the underwater mer-people village.

Several mermen tried to stop him with tridents, but Harry easily disoriented them by sending out a sonic screamer hex – a hex that was enhanced greatly by the water as sound travelled faster in water than it did in air. The glowing waves flew out of the protective bubble, sending out a horrible sonic scream that had the mer-people clutching their heads in pain. Many creatures and fish began to avoid him as he continuously sent out the hex, although he did this at the cost of his _Lumos_.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Harry could distinctly make out four figures just ahead of him, heavily guarded and tied to posts. His eyes widened when he saw a flash of dirty blonde hair.

Constantly firing his sonic screamer hex, Harry approached the figures as the mer-people began to move away, clutching their heads in a vain attempt to drown out the noise. It travelled quickly in the water and echoed all around them, causing creatures to begin to move away further.

Getting to Luna, Harry could see that she was under some sort of stasis spell. He used a cutting curse to sever her bonds before grabbing her and beginning to swim the hell out of there. The protective bubble's supply of air was beginning to run out and Harry could feel the air inside growing stale.

However, as he was getting to the surface he was surprised to see several fishlike, humanoid creatures grabbing and surrounding someone with very familiar silver hair.

Immediately Harry was struck with a moral choice. He knew that his air was running out, yet he knew he couldn't leave Fleur. Grindylows, after all, were nastily violent creatures, especially around veelas. Even so, he knew he couldn't leave Luna…

Cursing himself for his stupid moral disposition, Harry gently released Luna and tied her to some weed, before swimming forth, wand in hand. _"Mico!" _he snapped, closing his eyes.

As the bright flash blazed forth from his wand, Harry reached into the crowd of Grindylows and pulled Fleur out before shooting several stunners at them.

Fleur was dazed by this rescue, and a little disoriented. To her further shock she found that her rescuer was none other than Harry Potter.

Harry gave her a polite nod, before releasing her and turning back to grab Luna.

His anger began to boil as a giant squid had grabbed the petite form of his best friend. "NO!" he screamed as he surged forth with new energy, feeling a little lightheaded from the lack of oxygen.

The giant squid however held onto its prey desperately as it began to withdraw, lashing out with its long tentacles. Harry was unperturbed by them as he sent off several powerful cutting curses, a look of fierce and grim determination on his face. _"Vox Vesica!" _he screamed as he raised his wand. A long shaft of blue energy burst from his wand, forming and shaping into a thin and long blade. He began slashing wildly at the squid, blinded too much by his fear of losing Luna and his desperation.

The powerful magical blade had popped through his protective bubble, but Harry didn't care at the moment. He only wanted Luna back.

His blade began to weaken slightly as the shock of the cold water hit him once more, but Harry ignored it, focusing all of his drive and willpower into the spell as the blade vastly increased in length and strength. Gripping his wand tightly, he slashed at the squid once more, this time making contact.

The squid gave off a screech as the blade burnt through its rubbery skin, blue, flame-like tendrils of energy being left in its wake. It released its prey. Harry grabbed Luna, spots of darkness decorating his vision as he blindly swam upwards.

Harry gasped and began violently coughing as he broke the surface of the water, dragging Luna up with him. Ignoring the screaming cheers, he carried Luna's unconscious form across behind the medical tent.

Heavily panting, Harry grabbed Luna and began shaking her. "Luna? Luna! Wake up! Please…"

Luna began to slowly stir, giving off a yawn as if she had a nice long nap. She opened her pretty silvery eyes. "Hello Harry." She looked down at herself. "My, I seem to have become quite wet. Perhaps the nargles found it funny to splash me with water?"

Harry cried out in happiness as he grabbed Luna in a tight hug, completely shocking the Ravenclaw. "You're alright! Thank Merlin, I thought I had lost you…"

Awkwardly, Luna began to return the hug. "You'll never lose me, Harry." Luna said casually, as if they were discussing the weather. Her shoulders loosened and she became more comfortable as she sank further into his embrace, closing her eyes as she leaned her head against his neck. "I'll always be there by your side. I love you, by the way."

"What?" Harry croaked out before the two of them were interrupted by Professor McGonagall.

"Mr. Potter, while I am sure you are relieved to see your hostage rescued, I do suggest getting yourself checked out the medical tent. I am sure Madame Pomfrey will be most distraught without her favourite patient."

"Oh, of course," Harry replied before the two of them went around and into the medical tent.

"Now, what is it this time?" the nurse muttered to herself as she cast several diagnostic spells. She noted mentally how Harry was shivering slightly, and also his tired expression. Taking two cups of hot chocolate, she gave them to the pair.

"Thank you," Harry said as he began sipping at his drink quite eagerly. He was tired, very tired.

"I believe you are suffering from a case of magical exhaustion. In my opinion Mr. Potter, you should take it easy for a few days, keep warm, and you'll be fine." Pomfrey instructed. "You certainly are in much better luck this year, Mr. Potter. With all your frequent trips to the Hospital Wing, I'm half-tempted to set up a bed with a 'Reserved for Harry Potter' sign on it!"

Harry had expected Luna to burst out laughing at that statement. She burst out in laughter at the oddest moments, and this was one of the moments where Luna would laugh very hard. Yet she stayed unusually quiet, staring into her cup of hot chocolate in a moment of contemplation.

Before he could question her about it, Cedric and Viktor came into the tent with their hostages.

"Hermione!" Harry gasped at her friend's wounded arm.

"It's nothing, Harry," Hermione said stiffly. Viktor looked extremely apologetic and sorry, apologising to Hermione repeatedly.

"Hey Harry," Cedric grinned as he sat down with Cho.

"Hey Cedric," Harry greeted. "You two look fine. Bubble-head charm?"

"That's right," Cedric replied. "It was the most logical choice, and the charm isn't too difficult to cast once you get it down. I was shocked at your spell though – a full-body bubble charm?"

"A slightly modified full-body bubble charm," Harry corrected. "The original thing was pretty clumsy, so I changed it to make it easier to move in the water, and adding some extra wand movements so the bubble improved my motions. The only problem with that was that the amount of air was limited."

Cedric shook his head incredulously. "That's amazing, Harry. Seriously, I don't think some of the smartest Seventh Years could pull that off."

A little later, Fleur came in with her hostage, a child who looked like a junior version of the part-veela. She was silent as she stepped into the tent, and was still silent as Madame Pomfrey tended to her injuries at the hands of the Grindylows.

Harry ignored her, and the rest of the champions as he instinctively reached out to hold Luna's hand, which she reciprocated.

They only did this for a brief moment before Harry stood up. "I'll take you back to your Common Room, Luna," he said softly. "Screw the points."

As Harry walked Luna back to the Castle, completely ignoring any strange looks he was getting, something extremely odd happened.

"Luna?" Harry gasped as Luna started to give off choked sobs. He whirled around and took her hands. "Are you alright? What happened? Is it the Second Task?"

Luna refused to look up at him as her lower lip quivered. Her silvery eyes were moist with tears as she pulled her hands away and whirled around, running down the corridor in full flight, ignoring Harry's repeated calls after her.

-------

He was sitting in the Chamber of Secrets, deep in despair. It didn't matter if he was tied in first place. What only mattered was the fact that Luna was crying. Why would she cry? No matter what happened, she never cried...

_Was it because of him?_

A whirlwind of emotions rose up in him. His eyes watered slightly before he stormed out of the Inner Chamber into the Outer Chamber, pointing his wand at one of the dummies he had set a long time ago. _"Avada Kedavra!" _He screamed, feeling the dark energy rising up in him like a hurricane.

The green energy pulsed through the air, hitting the dummy and disintegrating it. If that had been a person, he would have been instantly dead.

There was no sick feeling now, no thought of throwing up. Rather, Harry felt indifferent, cold. The emotions that quelled up in him had been emptied, like a jar tipping out all its water, and he felt empty as an icy numbness spread throughout his body.

The Third Task was approaching, and this time, Harry resolved to do it alone. It had to be because of him. He had, somehow irrevocably hurt her. That's what he did, didn't he? All he caused was hurt.

There was a strong aching in his heart, which he dispelled by casting another Unforgivable. He couldn't hurt Luna. Not now, not ever. And if that meant separating away from her...

-------

"Are you alright, Hermione?" Harry asked with concern as they had lunch the next day. "You still haven't told me what happened."

Hermione unconsciously rubbed the bandages around her arm. "Viktor did a partial Animagus transformation," she stated. "When he tried to chew through my ropes…"

Harry nodded. "Oh. Okay. Have you seen Luna around?"

"No." Hermione frowned. "Are you two alright? I haven't seen her since the Second Task yesterday."

"We're alright…I think. I guess it was the Second Task. She could be a little in shock."

"The spell is cast so you wake up when you exit the water," Hermione replied confusedly. "I didn't feel anything from this wound until then?"

"But this is Luna we're talking about," Harry responded. He stood up, finishing off his ham. "I'm going to practise my spells."

"But Harry!" Hermione protested. "It's only a day after the Second Task. Surely…"

"Time hasn't exactly been my ally this year," Harry replied. "I've got a lesson with Professor Flitwick tonight, anyway. The Third Task is going to be the most dangerous out all of them."

Hermione sighed. "But surely! You're tired, even if you took one day off…"

"It could possibly mean the end of me," Harry finished. "The more new spells I learn, the more options I have in the Tournament."

As Harry walked away, his mind buzzing with new spells, he didn't notice a certain silver-eyed Ravenclaw standing in the corner, watching him intently and sadly with a mixture of emotions behind her eyes.

-------

"_Incendio!" _Harry yelled, sending a long stream of magical fire streaking across in a blaze of light. It completely obscured the dummy from view, before Harry canceled the spell after a while. The flames disappeared, and although the dummy had crumpled and blackened, it was mostly still in alright shape.

Harry exasperatedly lowered his wand. If he did that to a person, sure it would give him some extremely nasty burns, perhaps even kill him eventually. But he needed something that had more punch…

The boy wizard went into his bag and pulled out the tome on dark arts, flicking through it. Although his repertoire of spells had increased dramatically, he quickly noticed that most of the destruction of the offensive ones was within a certain radius. He needed something that could cause pure havoc and destruction as he currently did not have any spell under that category. It could come in handy.

Looking through the pages, Harry was slightly frustrated that he didn't find anything, but quickly came across something called _Fiendfyre._

Harry looked at the description and was impressed, but also was wary about the uncontrollable nature of the spell. This was, by its nature, very, very, very dark magic. Only a true master of dark magic would be able to summon, control and extinguish Fiendfyre.

In other words, Voldemort wouldn't know what hit him.

-------

"Mr. Potter!" Professor Flitwick squeaked as Harry entered the Charms classroom. "Please, come in! Most excellent use of a full-body bubble charm! Although the results differed slightly – I assume you modified it slightly?"

"That's right, Professor. Luna suggested the concept, and I did the modifications," Harry replied earnestly.

"Ah yes, Miss Lovegood!" Flitwick said fondly. "An exceptionally talented witch! I am truly blessed to have her in my house, as in later years she will be a powerful force in her own right! She will be on par with your mother – no…I think, with her skill she may surpass your mother! And your mother was one of the finest…"

"Professor," Harry interrupted politely. Flitwick often went on tangents like this, which although amusing, could be annoying as they could take unpredictable lengths of time. "If you don't mind, I'd like to start."

"Oh! I dearly apologise Harry. Now, this lesson I will teach you how to deal with multiple opponents." The little professor flicked his wand as several wooden dummies appeared around Harry. Several tables also shifted around. "Now, however interesting it would be for you to actually face several opponents, today we will simply be covering the tactics and methods appropriate. Let's say that you are walking down a street one night and find you are attacked. What would your first instinct be?"

"Run," Harry replied instantly. "Run the hell out of there, and get help."

"Correct! However good you may be, multiple attackers will give even a wizard like Headmaster Dumbledore trouble. The best options of course are to either run or Disapparate, or if you are feeling brave, return with greater numbers to even the odds. In the direst of circumstances, you may be prevented from doing so. If this is the case, the aim is not to win; the aim is to escape with your life."

"How can that be accomplished if the wards are up?" Harry questioned. "And surely if the attackers wanted you that bad they would have contingencies?"

"You would be amazed at how arrogant most wizards in the world are," Flitwick said with a twinkle in his eye. "Nevertheless, that is what we will be learning today – to disarm and wound your attackers long enough for you to escape outside the wards. Even wards are not infinite, as strange as it might seem. Now Harry, would you please step towards the dummies?"

Harry did so, wand out as he looked around him warily.

Seeing his cautious look, Flitwick chuckled. "No Harry, I am not going to animate them. Not yet, anyway," he added jokingly. "I am now going to ask you – how would you react to this situation before you? Think quickly, because in a real situation you couldn't sit back and think for ten minutes about what to do."

Harry did a quick look around. "Well those three over there…" he pointed, "have a clear shot at me. Except if I move to the right, their aim will be blocked as they can't afford to hit their own people."

"Again, you'd be amazed at how foolish most wizards can be," Flitwick replied. "However you are correct Harry. By moving to the right, they cannot fire spells without hitting their own. If timed correctly, you can cause them to attempt to cast spells regardless, hitting the two wizards and hopefully causing strife between the attackers."

Harry turned around. "What about those ones behind me?"

"I'm sure good distractive charm would work. Such as the one you demonstrated in the First Task, of course. If all else fails, you can summon one of the tables." Flitwick waved his wand again, and the scene rearranged itself. "Now as you can see, the attackers are surrounding you in a fairly circular pattern. What are you going to do now?"

Harry quickly evaluated the situation, then ducked behind one of the tables, pointing his wand over to the left.

"Very good, Harry!" Flitwick beamed. "As with all the lessons so far, you have picked it up extremely quickly. Indeed, you should get behind cover – something most wizards rarely think to do, instead, preferring to stand there and get pelted with spells. By being behind cover, you can trade fire with only one or two opponents at a time."  
"But that's extremely slow!" Harry complained. "It's a method that might work, but a smart wizard will try and get around to flank you!"

Flitwick sighed. "Which is why you should try not to get into such a situation like this. Dueling has not advanced to the point where a single master duelist will be able to defeat a large number of attackers with ease. However…"

Harry frowned as the small professor paused in thought. "What, Professor? Is there a way?"

"The only things I can think of is to attack on a large scale," Flitwick replied. "However, the most powerful spells that do such a thing are classified as dark arts, and sap great amounts of the caster's strength. There have been rumors though, about duelists in China and Japan who can fight off even an army with ease."

Harry's ears perked up at this. "Really?"

"Of course, these rumors have never been confirmed…however, the wizards of the Orient are a tricky and devious lot. They mostly keep to themselves, and also keep many spells and techniques they develop secret. If you want to learn from them, you'd have to prove yourself worthy, or some rubbish like that. But I knew a wizard once who attempted to learn from them – he said that many of the wizards there had done things he had never seen before…things which would be considered revolutionary and radical. Some of the greatest duelists in the world come from there, you know. The records for the most wins internationally and the quickest duel are held by a young Chinese wizard. Truly a phenomenon, that young man was… and they're damn tricky to find as well."


	10. Chapter 10

Hermione was quietly sitting in the library, a pile of books neatly stacked to one side as she systematically went through them, occasionally finding an interesting spell or tip for which she'd then copy with a silent charm.

Since becoming friends with Harry again, and making a new friendship with Luna, her schoolwork was at an all-time high – well, considering her marks were always consistently high, they remained unchanged, but other factors not necessarily taken into account in a classroom.

Because Harry had made such vast leaps forward, Hermione had to really push herself to keep up, and as such, her magic had also gradually progressed in strength as well. The spells became easier and easier until even non-verbal casting, something considered extremely advanced, turned to second-nature. She didn't even think about doing it for those simple day-to-day charms, she just did. The wand motions were less big also – now she barely needed to swish or flick her wand at all.

Thankfully the boy was always there to help her. She knew that despite his changes, he was happy for rekindling their friendship, and literally jumped at the study or duelling sessions him, Luna and her had.

"Hello Hermione."

Hermione looked up in shock to see the wide, silvery-blue eyes of Luna looking at her. At first, that constantly surprised gaze was unnerving, as was the intensity of her stare sometimes, but that eventually dissolved. "Oh hello Luna. Have you seen Harry? I just found a spell or two he might have an interest in."

"I need to talk to you. In the Room. Now." The flatness of her tone took Hermione by surprise. There was no dreamy quality to it – it was low, husky and serious.

At once Hermione stood up, and followed her to the Room of Requirement.

"Okay, Luna," Hermione said in obvious concern. "What's the matter?"

Luna burst into tears.

Hermione was completely taken aback, as the normally unflappable girl began sobbing, tears running freely down her cheeks, strangled gasps escaping her chest – she ran to her aid as Luna slumped to the ground, holding her closely. "Luna! What's wrong? Is it about Harry?"

"I-I told Harry I love him," she managed out.

The bookworm was shocked by such an electrifying pronouncement. She had always suspected there was something more to friendship between the two of them, but love? "And what did Harry..."

"He didn't hear. He had a lot on his mind, after all." Luna laughed, an odd sound amidst her crying. "But he will hear it. He frequently goes through his memories due to his Occlumency ability."

_Typical Harry_. "What is there to worry about? I mean, I'm sure..."

"What if he doesn't?" Luna whimpered. "What if he just thinks I'm a stupid little girl? Sometimes I think he's only friends because he feels sorry for me...it's not like he needs me!"

Hermione had felt that also, however briefly. She well knew of Harry's frequent nocturnal trips and disappearances, but to where she did not know. She believed that Luna knew where but refused to tell her.

Regardless, Hermione knew that Harry had become powerful – especially in such a short amount of time. It seemed every day he continued to progress faster, leaving her behind. "Harry would never be like that! He is friends with you because he genuinely wants to be, that I know." She said firmly. "And I know he feels the same way about you. Just give him some time."

"I can't bear to lose him Hermione," she uttered softly. "I just can't. Not after mum. Not again."

Naturally after they parted ways, neither of them spoke about this conversation ever again.

-------

Harry returned to the Hogwarts grounds in a foul mood. A maze! A bloody maze! All alone and separated from the rest of the world. He might as well just be offering himself to Voldemort on a silver platter.

Actually, that might not be a bad idea. His mood did a complete turnover as his mind assessed new possibilities and plotted a possible course of action.

Hmm... alone, separated from the rest of the world. Alone, without anybody to distract him as he misled Voldemort into believing him vulnerable, before striking, quickly and dangerously.

The eventually plan that came to him was the one that seemed the most feasible, but had its own risks. But then again, what was the fun of a plan without any risks?

Despite such an assessment, he found himself heading to Dumbledore's office. It was time they had a long overdue conversation.

He made his way up, using the password which had not changed, and knocked on the door before entering the Headmaster's office.

Dumbledore beamed at him with those signature twinkling blue eyes as he came in. "Good evening, Harry. You have caught me at a rather good time, it seems, as I have only just returned from a trip to restock my supply of lemon drops. Would you care for one?"

"No, thank you," Harry respectfully declined as he seated himself. "No, I am planning something I believe you should know about."

"And what, Harry, might that be?"

"Firstly, though, I have reason to believe Moody is a polyjuiced imposter."

The twinkle vanished as Dumbledore leaned forward intently. "Explain, starting from the beginning."

And so Harry did, although left out plenty of unnecessary details. He then outlined his plan.

Dumbledore stroked his beard in thought. "I do not at all like what you are planning, Harry. You are deliberately putting yourself in great danger."

"I know that, Professor," Harry said earnestly. "But you know as well as I do that there's no other option. This is the only way that it could possibly work. We need to expose Voldemort as soon as he regains his body back. It was only a matter of time anyway. Let things proceed on their present course, otherwise his plan will change and we'll be right back to where we started."

"Yes...I understand. I suppose you are planning for every possible contingency?"

"Of course. But I have one request sir."  
"Name it Harry. I will do everything in my power to ensure your safety."

"I need Gryffindor's sword."

At this Dumbledore smiled. "Ah, yes! You have proved your aptitude with the sword, and Snape himself, begrudgingly so, has implied your talent. Yes indeed, such an object would help, but you cannot let it fall into Voldemort's hands."  
"I don't plan to," Harry responded. "It is indestructible, isn't it?"

"Yes, something I believe will prove useful." Dumbledore stood up, taking the weapon out of its case, and handing it over carefully. "And do remember to return it at the end."

"Of course, Headmaster." Harry smiled as he gripped it, already feeling comfortable with the weapon due to its perfect craftsmanship. "And they won't see me smuggle it in. I know of at least several ways to keep it hidden."

The Headmaster's eyes sparkled with mischief. "Ah yes, the cunning of youth. I remember it all too well."

"What can I expect from Voldemort, sir?" Harry asked seriously. "What will he throw at me?"

"Voldemort has a mastery of magic which surpasses even my own. At full strength, I would never approve of this plan, for despite your rapid improvement, he would surely defeat you. Now is the time to fight, and hopefully injure him. Another thing I forgot to mention – Godric's blade has the curious ability of absorbing anything that strengthens it. So, through careful observation, it seems that it has acquired the properties of the venom of the basilisk you defeated in Second Year, Harry."

Harry's eyes dawned with understand. "I see, sir! So even a little nick..."

"Yes, Harry. Despite whatever dark rituals he has undergone, despite what powers his new body has, basilisk venom is still basilisk venom. It will undeniably wound him and render him inactive for some time. Expect the unexpected from him, Harry, but do not expect mercy. He may play with you for a while at first, perhaps even torturing you to signify his dominance..."

At his darkened gaze, Harry nodded. "I'm ready for that, Professor. I'll be taking ready-made potions, some which will help me, albeit temporarily, with the Cruciatus."

"I am relived. But do not expect this to last long. He will not make the mistake of underestimating you, Harry. Strike swiftly and hold nothing back, for he will be using everything in his considerable arsenal."

-------

With those foreboding words, Harry left, returning to the Room of Requirement, seating himself to meditate and clear his mind. His Occlumency had improved yet again, but he needed to bring it to even newer heights now. He was sure that Voldemort would be a master Legilimens. Harry needed to prevent him from peering into his memories, and seeing those he could potentially exploit.

_Luna..._

Even the thought of her made him unconsciously shiver. They had not spoken for a while, and inwardly Harry felt guilty – although there was something else. An unmistakable feeling of lacking something... being incomplete. Like he was not whole.

What had happened? Had he hurt her? Was she angry at him?

Despite his misgivings, Harry delved back into his memory of the Second Task, watching himself burst up from the lake surface, triumphantly but in exhaustion. He watched himself with Luna, half-dazed, turning around as he heard something she said.

Harry paled.

She said... no, there was no possibility...but the implications of such a statement, the intent in her usually misty eyes, it all pointed to one possibility...

Quickly Harry pulled out the Marauder's Map, finding Luna's dot walking through one of the corridors. How could he have been so stupid?! Of course she would cry if she thought he ignored her! At least that's what he thought.

His eyes widened in fear as he saw a rather large group of Slytherins approaching her location – a group with none other than Draco Malfoy.

NO! His grip on his wand tightened as he hastily stuck the sword into his enchanted pack, bursting out and running as hard as he could.

-------

Luna was skipping along, her dreamy facade stonily set even though within she contemplated a particular young boy wizard with a lightning scar and emerald green eyes.

She had never met someone like him. Never would meet another like him. That quietly confident boy who had now gotten rid of all false modesties was the only one who could truly see through her, see into her heart. After mother, Luna had refused to let herself get hurt again, refused true intimacy. Her father was not one for extremely closeness, thankfully, and at Hogwarts although she was alone all the time she was glad for it. True, there were a few friends, but none who could understand her. None who in their presence her mask would break.

And now it had, several times in fact, due to him. To Harry. To think that in one single year, just a boy could make such a difference...

If this wasn't love, she asked herself, then what was it?

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Loony Lovegood!" A sarcastic voice mocked.

Although inside Luna stiffened, outside she merely stopped skipping, regarding the huge group of Slytherins with her unchanging expression of dreamy surprise. That stare was helping in making some of them shift uneasily. "Hello Draco Malfoy. The Nargles still haven't left your hair. Maybe you should stop using so much hair gel. They won't be as attracted to you then."

Some of the Slytherins sniggered as Malfoy turned a beet red. "As if I believe in imaginary creatures, Loony! Where's big bad Potter now?" he smirked as he stepped forward, and the rest of the Slytherins also, taking their wands out. "You see, I intend to send him a little message. One he'll never forget."

Luna repressed the urge to take a step back, her wand as ever tucked in its place on her ear. She could easily flick her head forward and catch it in a moment, but this was something beyond her. One against one, perhaps, but such a large group? The first spells would hit her before she even caught her wand.

"Oh really, Malfoy? In that case, why don't you tell me such a thing yourself?"

_Harry! _He had suddenly appeared out of thin air besides her, standing calmly with wand in hand, something accomplished through sleight of hand and his invisibility cloak. Even just being near him was soothing and encouraging.

"Potter!" Draco spat in pure loathing.

"In the flesh. Now why don't you and your cronies go crawling back into whatever hole you came from? Since, let's be frank, the possibilities of you winning are extremely marginal. One Dark Lord was no trouble, so how about you?"

Malfoy was taken aback by such a display of apparent cockiness, but it had its intended effect on the Slytherins, most of who could, amazingly, think for themselves (to an extent). They began to have doubts as some of them looked at him in fear. "As if, Potter! There's only two of you and plenty of us!"

Harry played on their fear, using his Legilimency skills on their weak minds to make himself seem larger and more intimidating, and even pushed out a little bit of magic into his eyes to make them pulsate with an ethereal glow. "I know. That's why you should back off. Now."

The blonde ferret nearly whimpered in fear as he saw how menacing Harry looked, before suddenly regaining himself. With a sneer, he stormed off – and with their leader gone, the Slytherins dispersed.

"Are you alright?" Harry turned to Luna in concern. "Malfoy didn't do anything to you did he?"

Luna smiled in genuine happiness before shaking her head. "No. You came just in time."

Harry was relieved. "Good. We need to talk. Let's go to the Chamber."

They returned to the safety of Slytherin's Chamber, which had undergone some...refurbishing, with Luna's own design.

The walls were now decorated in a shocking combination of clashing purple, pink and a huge assortment of varying colours, as well as covered in looping layers of rainbow strands and frilly ropes. If Slytherin saw what his Inner Chamber was like now, he would have had a heart attack.

And of course, Harry thought it was brilliant.

"Luna..." Harry sighed as they sat down. "I'm sorry. I wasn't..." abruptly he felt Luna touch his lips gently, signalling for him to stop.

"Don't apologise, Harry," she said softly. "It was my fault. I-I was afraid. I was afraid you would laugh at me, or belittle me, or scorn me for saying such a thing. It just came out... I didn't meant to say that, and I'm sorry for running away and making you think you were responsible. But you know the truth now. I do love you, and I can perfectly understand if you want to stay as friends..."

Harry looked at her with warmth as he cupped her face in his strong hands, letting their eyes connect. Those beautiful, silvery eyes, as entrancing as they were exasperatingly mischievous. He briefly wondered if she was part-veela, then realised their charm didn't affect him. "Why would you perfectly understand? I wouldn't. I'd be a fool not to love you. Because I do. I love you, Luna."

At those words, Luna's heart soared in happiness.

He knew how happy this made her. Taking his hands off her face, he took her hands tightly instead. "I know I'm still an idiot, albeit less of one now. I still have a tendency to do stupid things, something which Hermione calls my 'saving people' complex. I'm still rather hot-headed and impulsive, though I'm getting there. I'm still an unfinished work, Luna, though I'll be happy if you have me as I am."

"I'm stupid as well, Harry," Luna whispered back. "I had a Wrackspurt infection that made me blind. But now it's gone and I can see just fine, and I can see that I would be dumber than Ron to refuse you."

Harry's grin was wider than any he could make even on an overdose of cheering potions. "So do we do something now? To, you know, signify this event?"

"Traditionally people signify it with a kiss," Luna replied dreamily. "And we can't break with tradition, can we?"

"I'm happy to break most other traditions, such as the tradition of believing it is impossible to conjure gold, except this, which I'll gladly keep." Harry said.

"Of course." Luna agreed. "Most other traditions, bar this."

The pair of them leaned in, a little awkwardly at first. Once they were in close, there was a hesitant pause, before Harry decided to abandon everything and kiss her.


	11. Chapter 11

The day of the Third Task approached steadily, and Harry, with Luna and Hermione's help, was working at a feverish pace. He had upped the ante on everything, pushing his body as hard as it could possibly stand, and waking up every morning with all his muscles spent, aching and exhausted.

Knowing he could not learn a large array of spells in such a small amount of time, he had now limited himself to learning only the most powerful and the most useful. For everything he used, he attempted to cast silently with only the slightest wand movements.

When it came closer to the day, Harry decided to take it easy, spending time with his friends, and especially with Luna.

Now that they had freely admitted their feelings, all the awkwardness had dissolved. Sure they were both clueless about most matters of romance, but they would discover them together, with plenty of laughs along the way. That level of intimacy which was profusely denied was now accepted with wide arms by both of them.

Soon it was the day of the Third Task. Harry was taking in his charmed pack, shrunken down and hidden in his shoe as he slipped on his dragonhide vest and gauntlets, covering them with a casual muggle shirt. He decided not to get a full set, instead preferring to leave his joints free for mobility.

Now he was ready. "I'm going now, Luna."

Luna stood up, and hugged him tightly, giving him a soft kiss for good luck. "Please be careful Harry. And one other thing. Give Voldemort my greetings."

Harry smirked as he knew exactly what she meant. "Of course, Luna. And hey, I'm always careful, right?"

-------

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WELCOME TO THE THIRD TASK OF THE TRI-WIZARD TOURNAMENT!"

Huge applause from the students was the response.

"NOW I KNOW THAT YOU'RE ALL EAGER, SO LET'S GET TO IT! THE TRI-WIZARD TROPHY IS CONTAINED SOMEWHERE WITHIN THIS MAZE! TO WIN, ALL A CHAMPION NEEDS TO DO IS BYPASS THE OBSTACLES AND GRAB THE CUP!"

Yes, because that was really easy. That wasn't sarcasm, though – Harry knew he needed to get to the cup first in order to ensure the other champions were safe, and had already concocted a plan to ensure this. It was almost deliciously Slytherin.

Dumbledore nodded to him from where he was seated, his face grim but resolved. The message was clear, and Harry nodded back in understanding before stepping forward.

"BECAUSE THE YOUNGEST CHAMPION, HARRY POTTER, IS CURRENTLY FIRST, HE WILL BE ALLOWED INTO THE MAZE FIRST! WHEN THE CANNON GOES, HARRY, YOU ARE ALLOWED TO BEGIN!"

Harry took a deep breath as he looked into the mist of the maze. It was vast, but if he got a good run in then none of the other Champions could see him.

There was a loud bang! And Harry surged forward, sprinting through as hard as he could with the sounds of the crowd in his ears.

He continued running for some time, until he was certain he had made enough distance for him not to be seen, before picking up his wand and murmuring an incantation.

Instantly a beam of thin light emanated from the tip, searching around wildly for several moments before flicking to one direction, locking onto the strongest magical source – the Tri-Wizard cup.

Harry grinned, memorising the direction before cancelling it, putting his wand forward. _"Incendio!" _

A massive stream of fire spewed forth, much more powerful than what even some Seventh Years could do, and the wall of bush withered and burnt underneath the intense inferno. He sprinted through, just as it began to close up.

Harry repeated the process, running through the temporary holes as fast as he could before they could close up, and decreased the time between cancelling the spell and re-casting it. Through this, he was swiftly able to traverse the treacherous maze, avoiding the obstacles as he moved quickly between walls.

And suddenly, a glimmer of light before him signalled he had reached his target.

The Cup! Harry glanced around, making sure no other Champions were in sight, before reaching forward and grasping it.

Just as he had expected, he felt a tug on his navel and the scene around him blurred, to suddenly warp and become that of a dank graveyard.

_Here we are._ He narrowed his eyes at the sight of a cauldron, already bubbling with several empty jars around it. It had gone a sickly black, mixed in with some red – what dark concoction was Voldemort making?

Suddenly his wand snapped up. "Wormtail!" he hissed, feeling the pain in his scar intensify, he merely blocked it out with Occlumency.

The traitor shouted something, and Harry lowered his guard, allowing himself to be telekinetically pushed back and locked in place against one of the statues, as Wormtail moved forward, and dropped something into the cauldron.

"Skull of the father, unwillingly taken," Wormtail murmured, digging it up, and dropping it back into the cauldron. "You shall revive your son..."

Harry watched in slight morbid fascination as the cauldron began hissing, and turned to absolute pitch black.

"Flesh of the servant, w-willingly given." The rat whimpered as he pulled out a knife, and cut off his hand, letting it drop in. "You shall revive your master."

Now Harry had a good idea of where this was going, confirmed when Wormtail moved towards him the knife.

"Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken..." Harry gritted his teeth as he cut his arm, refusing to show pain. "You shall revive your foe!"

Wormtail moved, and allowed several drops to fall – when that happened, the cauldron began hissing uncontrollably, rumbling even, as Harry could distinctly hear the sounds of bones and flesh forming before the cauldron shattered, sending millions of pieces flying out, and in its place, wet from liquid...was a...thing. Something which vaguely resembled a humanoid, but was serpentine-like.

"Robe me," the thing said.

Wormtail hastily did so, handing back his master his wand and bowing.

The humanoid looked at himself, admiring his new body, then turned to regard Harry with cold, red-slit eyes.

Voldemort was back.

"Wormtail, give me your arm," Voldemort stated.

"Oh, master, thank you..."

"Your OTHER arm, you fool!" The Dark Lord hissed, grabbing it and pulling up the sleeve to reveal the Dark Mark, before pressing down on it with his wand.

Wormtail gave off a horrific scream, loud enough for Harry to know how strong the pain must have been. Voldemort removed it, and Wormtail slumped down, panting.

After several moments, there came a multitude of 'pops' – Death Eaters.

"Good evening, my friends," Voldemort began, turning to address them. "Here we stand, as we once did, thirteen years ago. It seems that nothing has changed... or has it?" his glowing eyes narrowed. "There are many spaces. These spaces belong to those truly loyal to me, who never renounced my name even at the end! Those spaces belong to the ones now residing in Azkaban Prison, while the rest of you feigned Imperius!"

Harry blocked out the rest of his little rant, mentally noting down the Death Eaters as he pulled off their masks. He checked that he was still gripping his wand, and quietly pulled his pack out of his pocket, unshrinking it and slipping it on.

"...And now to our guest. Our very own little hero, the Boy-Who-Lived." Voldemort turned to regard him. "You've been a busy little boy, haven't you, Harry? My insider tells me you're excelling at school. Why don't you be good now, and show me what you youngsters are learning these days?"

Voldemort was about to wave his wand, but Harry beat him to it. "No need." With merely a flick, he detached himself and landed. "Really, Voldemort, do you think that you can beat me? I allowed you to regain a body this time, so I can kill you again. Simply out of sheer boredom, as one my intellect tends to fall into."

"You foolish boy!" Voldemort snarled. "For months upon months I wondered why you, a mere child, kept outwitting me, the greatest wizard in all of history! Then I realised: luck, Potter! Blind, dumb, LUCK!"

"On the contrary, Lord Voldemort," Harry put a great sarcastic emphasis on his title, circling him mockingly, "it was blind, dumb luck, that saved you from being sent into the afterlife. I don't know what dark rituals you did to save yourself, but I think that YOUR luck has run out. I beat you as a one-year old, what makes you think you can beat me as I am now?"

"Is that so, Harry?" Voldemort sneered. "Well you see, this body has some new 'improvements'. Not only is your own blood protection negated, it is a body that cannot be destroyed."

"Let's put that to the test, shall we?" Harry smirked, raising his wand.

"A child like you could never hope to defeat me. But I will allow you the dignity of looking into your murderer's eyes before you die. _Crucio!"_

Although he moved fast, Harry had already been expecting such a move, and was already moving. He dodged the curse, firing repeated Reductor curses before conjuring up a solid marble wall, hiding behind it as he took several items out of his enchanted pack, one of which was Gryffindor's sword.

A powerful dark blasting curse finally managed to tear through the wall, but Harry had already moved, snapping off several more curses that were all rapidly blocked in one blurring motion. Damn, Voldemort was fast!

"You see Harry? I can react to your every slight gesture, read your every emotion, and even hear you breathing. Not even an invisibility cloak could save you."

_He's inhumanly fast. He must really have made improvements. I guess I need to start bringing out the bigger guns. _"Oh really? If you're so fast, then dodge this! _FIENDFYRE!_" A huge, monstrous inferno roared forth, taking on the form of a gigantic phoenix as it squawked and charged towards the Dark Lord, whose eyes widened as he swiftly waved his wand, creating a silvery bubble around himself.

Harry gritted his teeth as he pushed more power into the spell, controlling it so the phoenix then completely devoured the bubble, turning into a hellish volcanic tornado, spinning around.

Voldemort was taken aback from within the bubble as cracks began forming on it – he knew it would take him time for him to return to full strength, and he was NOT going to have his glorious resurrection spoilt by this brat! He began pouring more magic into the bubble, letting it expand out, pushing the inferno away – soon the flames began to weaken, and Voldemort knew his opponent was weakening.

Once all the flames had disappeared, Voldemort cancelled his bubble, smirking. "That was a nice little trick, Harry, one that I applaud you for. Few could...AGH!" He ducked and dodged as tombstones, trees, branches, rocks went flying towards him, having to banish several objects away, before feeling a sharp, hot pain in his side and a crackle.

Harry grinned as Voldemort turned in absolute fury – he flicked his wand, and the long whip of flame disappeared. "Surprised? Don't underestimate me, Voldemort." Despite that, he knew such a thing had severely depleted his magical reserves, and he was panting from the exertion.

"I see now there is more to you than meets the eye, Harry. I would extend to you the offer of joining my side, but I am no fool – I see that you would betray me."

"Of course. After growing more powerful than you." Harry taunted. Then to his shock, Voldemort's blackened side slowly mended itself, the bone growing back and resetting, and scale-like skin grew back over it.

"You see, Harry? I cannot be defeated. _CRUCIO!" _

This time Voldemort moved too quickly, and Harry was caught unawares – he slipped and stumbled as the spell hit, but gritted his teeth, using every ounce of his will to not show pain.

Voldemort held the spell for a full minute before releasing it. "_Imperio. _Admit it Harry – admit that Lord Voldemort is superior, that you are just a weak little boy, acting on pure, dumb luck."

Harry smirked, and easily threw off the curse. "How about you kill yourself instead – save us both the trouble?" He had too much to live for.

Voldemort suppressed his shock, walking closer, until he was inches away from Harry's face – who was pretending to be weaker than he really was. Quietly, he slid his hand behind him, into his pack, waiting for the right moment. "As much pleasure as I could derive from continuing to torture you, I'm afraid I have an army to raise. Now then..." he raised his wand. "Goodbye, Harry Potter! _Ava..."_

Harry growled, pulling the sword of Gryffindor out of his pack, stabbing it forward – Voldemort was able to barely pull back, but not before the tip managed to stab a fair way in.

"You'll pay for that, Harry!" Voldemort hissed, clutching his wound – but to his horror, the wound was not healing. Instead, pain racked him as he felt something spread through his body.

"Even if your body has regenerative abilities, it'll be hard-pressed to fight off basilisk venom," Harry smirked, sliding the sword back in. "And now before I go..." he flicked his wand behind him, signalling the cup to come, but flicked it again, causing it to fly up – then he fired a spell at it, a unique little spell which Luna had taught him. "A little gift from my girlfriend!"

As the spell hit the Portkey, it exploded, sending a backlash of its magic washing out – Harry felt a tug on his navel, as did Voldemort and Pettigrew, and several other Death Eaters before they were transported to the entrance of the maze.

"AND THE WINNER IS, HARRY....HUH? AGHH! DEATH EATERS!"

There was a huge amount of screaming as Voldemort spun around in shock, unfortunately catching the eye of several Ministry officials, such as Fudge, Crouch and Dumbledore – who recognised him immediately. Dumbledore was already making to stand up, his wand at the ready...

"You!" Voldemort roared in pure rage as Aurors rushed onto the scene, turning to the smirking Harry. "You ruined everything! _AVADA KEDAVRA!"_

Harry conjured up a marble shield which blocked the curse but easily shattered – he quickly sent back some of his own curses, which Voldemort blocked, but their duel was over. Voldemort turned around, sneering, before Disapparating.

Pettigrew was shrivelling up under the gaze of several wizards who recognised him, and was about to Disapparate, but Harry beat him to it, firing a stunner which knocked him out cold. There was no way he was escaping this time!

"Harry!" Luna suddenly appeared as she ran out, avoiding the Aurors trying to prevent the Death Eaters from leaving before literally jumping onto him, hugging him close. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

Harry winced, his adrenalin surge forgotten now. "Sorry...Voldemort hit me with a Cruciatus curse."

"Oh, Harry! I was so afraid! I was afraid that you'd leave me..."

"I will never leave you, Luna," Harry said firmly as she helped him across the field. "Never, ever. You have my promise."

Dumbledore quickly turned up, looking at Harry with concern. "Are you fine, my boy?"

"Better than expected. It worked without a hitch, and Voldemort is wounded, hopefully badly. You need to catch Moody's imposter before he escapes now...I would help you, but I think a little trip to the Hospital Wing is in order," he chuckled.

"Very well. I will obtain the full story from you later."

As Dumbledore left, Harry turned to Luna with a grim but resolved smile. "It looks like we have a war on our hands, Luna."


End file.
